


Lost Sakura

by Mellosweet



Category: Hybrid Child (Anime & Manga), Junjou Romantica, Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi
Genre: M/M, Psychological Horror, Psychological Torture, Spirits, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2018-10-14 11:22:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10535460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mellosweet/pseuds/Mellosweet
Summary: Ritsu thought it was strange when his father called to meet him in the family's summer house. Neither him or his colleagues ever imagined what they would find there.





	1. The Call

**Author's Note:**

> wow, I suck at summaries, but ok.  
> let's go for a few warnings!  
> \- English isn't my first language. I'm in college now, so I stopped taking english classes to start taking italian, and writing this fic is my way of keeping practicing. If you guys see anything wrong, please tell me! I want to improve!  
> \- As I said, I'm in college now and I won't say I'm super busy, but if something comes up and I take too long to update, it's probably because of that.  
> \- I have 14/15 of this fic ready, in portuguese, but ready, so I don't plan on abandoning it. BUT please, leave kudos and comments. They give me energy to keep going!  
> I hope you guys enjoy it!

“Ricchan, are you sure that your parent’s summer house is in this way?”

“Yes” he nodded, seeing the dirt road An drives by “I used to come here when I was a child. Thank you for driving me here. And I’m sorry for the trouble, An-chan.”

“If you don’t remember, I used to come too. But its been so long that I can’t even remember the path. And it’s no trouble.” An smiled at him before looking at the road again with a more serious expression “But… Takano-san was too busy with work? He seens like the type that would offer to drive you immediately if you told him.”

Ritsu pressed his lips in a tight line “Takano-san… hm… Doesn’t know I’m coming here…”

She looked at him surprised by the corner of her eye “So, how did you get a day off?”

“He doesn’t know where I came, but I told him the reason. I told him that my father called saying he wanted to see me fast and I got worried.”

“Didn’t you say he will just get here tomorrow?”

“Yes, but he asked me to come early to take a look at the place. Oh, here we are.”

An stopped the car in front of the wooden gate so Ritsu could get his bag and get out of the car to open it with the keys his father sent him.

“Hm?” he hesitated before insert the key in the gate lock “It seens so… old…”

The Onodera’s summer house was an old construction, and the mansion suffered multiple repairs as the years went. Mostly were simple thanks to the desire of keeping the old fashioned design, but the walls around the property and the gates (one in the front and one in the back) were changed for safety. For some reason, in that moment, the front gate seemed much older than he could remember from the last time he came here. _Much_ older.

“Is everything alright?” An called noticing how long he was taking just standing there.

Well, it was probably because it had been long since the last time he came over.

“No!” he opened the gate and turned around “Would you like to come in? It has been long since yourself came here.”

An smiled sadly “I’m sorry, Ricchan. But I need to finish a few things at work, yet. So… When I come to pick you up?”

“Maybe I will come back with my father, but call me and come if we are still here if you can.”

She nodded excited “Yes! Definitely! Bye!

“Bye! Thank you again!”

She waved one last time before start to maneuver the car. He watched her go until the car disappear in the corner of the dirt road, surrounded by the trees.

He took a deep breath and got in. He locked the gate and turned around, just to get surprised by what he saw. It sure had been a long time since he came the last time, but his father loved that property and made sure to take care of it. From time to time, he would send employers to keep the place clean and all. So how did the grass get so tall? The path marked on the dirt couldn’t almost be seen!

“Could it be…” eyes widened “Could it be he wants to sell it? No” he shook his head “No, definitely no.”

Ritsu looked at the mansion not so far away. It looked in a good state, at least. He noticed that the trees also seemed well pruned. He adjusted his bag on his back and moved on.

Inside, the mansion practically didn’t change a thing. The same old looking furniture and decoration – something made by order by his mother, who wanted to keep mostly of what it looked centuries before -, the same cabinets, mostly locked, to keep old and fragile objects intact – all originally from when the house was constructed.

Ritsu left his bag in one of the rooms, one with a door for the balcony to the back of the house, and started the duty of opening all the windows, showing clouds of dust in the light.

He sighned ‘Father must have exempt employers to clean it or something’.

There was a wardrobe with cleaning products. It took him some time trying to clean all the dust  from the principal rooms before sitting in the front balcony of the house. There were too many rooms and just cleaning the principal ones made him tired, there was no way he could finish everything. How fun, he wouldn’t find motivation to clean his own apartment but the first thing he did when coming to the mansion after years not even thinking about it was cleaning it.

He took a deep breath and smiled with his eyes closed. Maybe this place was old, but been able to stay away from all the urban pollution, aerial and sound, was like taking a weight away from his back. He laid down and tried to relax a little…

Until he hear the sound of the gates opening and a car coming in.

“Father?” he said out loud confused, jumping to stand up fast. ‘But he said he would only come tomorrow…’

No. It couldn’t be his father. No way his father would own the red sports car parking in the front yard. Maybe his mother would like something that called to much attention, but not his father.

“Eh?” he said, confused. He got even more confused when Usami Akihiko got out of that card “EH!?” he run to the writer “Usami-sensei, what are you doing here?”

“Onodera-san?” Usami looked at him, equally confused “I didn’t knew Isaka called you too.”

“Called?” he blinked confused. Just then he noticed the green-eyed boy by Akihiko’s side “Oh, hello.”

The boy noticed after a second he was being called and blushed “H-Hi. I’m Takahashi Misaki.”

Ritsu smiled “You work at Marukawa, right? I think I saw you there before.”

Misaki nodded “Hm. I started not long ago in Japun.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Onodera Ritsu. I work at Emerald.”

 “Oh. I’m sorry.”

“…I can relate.”

“Onodera was my editor at Onodera Publishing” Akihiko told Misaki and looked back at his ex-editor “Do you know what project Isaka called us to discuss?”

Again, he blinked in confusion “Project?”

Akihiko seemed angry, but not with Ritsu “The project. Isaka said your father and him were thinking about making a project involving the books I have published in your publishing company. He passed the instructions to get here, where he said would be a meeting.”

“ _My fathers_ publishing.” He murmured “Usami-sensei, I’m not sure this is correct. My father called me asking for me to come meet him, but he will only come tomorrow. There is no one here besides me.”

Usami looked at him confused “Wait, he didn’t told you the reason?”

Ritsu shook his head “No.”

“W-Wait” Misaki said “What, hm, does it mean?”

Ritsu cleaned his throat and smiled “Well, it was a long journey from Tokyo so, how about we come inside and then talk?”

Akihiko and Misaki looked at each other before agreeing.

“Please, don’t mind the dust. It has been long since anyone came here” Ritsu said guiding them to the inside.

“Wow, this place seens so old” Misaki took off his shoes at the genkan and put the slippers Ritsu gave him from the show rack “What is this place?”

Ritsu smiled looking around “It’s like… a summer house for my family.”

“Summer house?”

“My family likes to come here on summers. All my relatives, or who can, come here once every summer for a family reunion.  Even to watch the blossom of the cherry trees, sometimes. I used to pass all my summers here.”

“Hm…” Misaki looked at the cherry tree frame near the entrance “But how exactly did you get this place?”

“It goes from generation to generation. By the looks of it, some ancestor of mine was part of a clan. The surname ‘Onodera’ doesn’t come from them, though.”

“Wow” Misaki was enchanted by the story. It looked like it got out of one of the manga he helped to edit! “Usagi-san, isn’t it cool?” he turned around “Eh? Usagi-san?”

Akihiko, who stand outside, in front of the door, looked at the inside of the mansion with an expression Misaki had never seen in the authors face. Something like a mix of confusion, and fear.

“Usagi-san?” Misaki walked to him, worried “Oi! Are you okay?”

Akihiko blinked hard. His expression softened and he shook his head before looking at him “What?”

Misaki looked at him confused “Hm… It’s just… Usagi-san had a really scary expression just now…”

“Are you okay, Usami-sensei?” Ritsu asked, worried too.

“Yes, yes. I’m fine.” He came in and took off his shoes “It’s just… this place seens familiar, somehow.”

 

Ritsu, Misaki and Akihiko sit around a low table in the balcony. The couple looked at the back garden while their host served them some tea. A light breeze was blowing over them. Misaki looked at the open green area and the cherry trees with fascination.

“Amazing” he breath and closed his eyes as the wind blows softly in his face “It’s so beautiful and the clime is so refreshing.”

“Yes, I agree” Ritsu said with a smile “Oh, are you staying for the night? If Isaka-san and my father want to make the meeting it will probably be tomorrow. Well, my father, at least, said he will only come tomorrow.”

Akihiko nodded “If Isaka doesn’t appear…” a dark aura surrounded him “I will kill him.”

Misaki let out a nervous yell while Ritsu only laughed “Usami-sensei, you haven’t change” he looked at Misaki “But, for him to come here… I think you have something to do with this, don’t you?”

Misaki's eyes widened “EH?! W-What do you mean?”

“Misaki” Akihiko called him “Onodera knows. There’s no need to hide.”

“WHAT?” Misaki looked at Ritsu “Bu-but how…?”

Ritsu smiled again “I’m already aware about Usami-sensei’s sexual preference. I was his editor, after all. And he still send me his books including the BL ones. It’s not… a coincidence that Suzuki Misaki and Takahashi Misaki are so similar, is it?”

Misaki let out a gasp. His face became scarlet read before he turned angry to his boyfriend “YOU SENT IT TO HIM?!”

Akihiko looked unbothered “You didn’t even knew each other. Besides,” he took his teacup to his mouth “Onodera is in the same boat.”

This was Ritsu’s time to blush while Misaki looked surprised at him.

“A-Anyway” he laughed nervous “I think it’s for the best prepare your rooms” he looked at the sky and got up “When you realize, it will be dark already. Well, at least I have this impression.”

“Oh!” Misaki got up as well “I will help you!”

Soon later, both were in one of the rooms cleaned by Ritsu. While Ritsu extended a futon, Misaki hold another. The younger looked around the room he was in. He felt like he was in the Meiji era of how much the decoration looked genuine. The only thing out of scenario was the lamp on the ceiling. He felt so exited. It looked like a scenario of manga! Specially it’s history. Ritsu being a descendent from an important clan just added more to his fantasy.

“Here” Ritsu got up from the ground “Give me the other.”

“Hm” Misaki gave him the other futon to extend “Hey, Onodera-san?”

“Yes?”

“If you don’t mind me asking, you said you _used_ to come and pass summer here. Why did you stop?”

Ritsu’s smile disappeared and he stopped his movements to adjust the futon. Without looking to a specific point, he had a confused expression “I… I don’t really know.”

“What do you mean?”

Ritsu looked at him “Well, I think I stopped after coming back from my interchange. I studied almost all of my high school years in England, and I came back after graduating there. In the summer right after this, we decided to make a family reunion here. But” he made a troubled face “there was… something wrong with this house. I don’t know what it was, but it was like some kind of… what is it called? Miasma? Yes, I think this is how people call it. It felt like this was all over the houve, but only I could sense it. I had a panic attack on the first night sleeping alone in a room, so my family thought it would be better if I shared a room with my cousins after that.”

“Wow. And what happened after it?”

“Oh, things went okay.” He started to adjust the futon again “My uncle from my father’s side said it was because of the room. It looks like it’s owner committed seppuku.” He laughed “He believes in those things about spirits and auras. But after the family reunion I went to a doctor and e said it was probably my anxiety reacting to the change of place. There are big differences between England and Japan”

“Hm…” Misaki didn’t knew what to say “I’m happy this was the reaon. It would be scary with the seppuku story and all. How did your uncle know?”

“He studied the family’s tree. He is a historian. Knows everything about this house and who lived here.” He got up “Finished here. Let’s meet Usami-sensei. It’s already getting dark.”

Misaki looked and the window and let out a yell “EH?! Sunset? Already?”

“Understand what I meant? Let’s go.”

Going back to the balcony, they found Akihiko coughing.

“Usagi-san?” Misaki run to his side and gave him light slaps on his back “Are you ok?”

“Y-Yes” Akihiko said stopping to cough. He took a deep breath “I’m fine.”

“Oh,” Ritsu approached the couple “Are you sure? I could try to find some medicine…”

“No. I’m fine. It was just a cough. It’s just the clime. It’s colder than Tokyo, here.”

Misaki changed his worried expression to an angry one. He slapped Akihiko’s nape “Or maybe it’s the cigarettes! I already told you to stop smoking!”

“I will… when I die.”

Ritsu smiled watching the interaction of the two lovers. Akihiko didn’t change much, but the appearance of Misaki in his life definitely turned something to the better. The author wasn’t so cold as he used to be, and that sad look he always had disappeared. Much on the contrary, there seemed to have a sparkle on them.

He looked at the orange colored sky “I will turn on the lights. Without them, this place is completely dark.”

Ritsu turned on all the lights from the hallways linking the rooms to the bathroom, kitchen and balcony. Just the principal area. While he did this, Misaki and Akihiko chatted in their room. Akihiko didn’t seem very well well another dry cough came, so both editors decided it would be for the best if he went to rest inside early. It could be something caused by the cigarettes or the pollution in Tokyo, but it could be something to worry about it continued for too long.

The sky was almost completely dark when the sound of a car and the front gates being open again took his attention.

“Dawn!” he cursed “I forgot to lock it!”

When he stopped to think about it, didn’t he locked up the front gate even before Misaki and Akihiko got in by themselves?

He ran to the front entrance and watched as a black car parked by Akihko’s side.

The wrost thing: he knew that car.

“H-How” he was out of words seeing Takano Masamune getting out of his car “HOW DID YOU KNOW WHERE I WENT TO?!”

Masamune looked at him surprised “Onodera? What are you doing here?”

“I SHOULD BE THE ONE ASKING!”

“Hello, Onodera-san!” he looked away to the other side of the car and saw Mino helping his son to get out as well “Isaka-san o chamou também?”

“Isaka-san? Oh, so he called you two too.”

“Oi, you said you would take a day off to talk to your father!” Masamune looked angry at him.

Ritsu grind his teeth peeved “And I will. But he asked me to come here today even though he is only coming tomorrow.”

Mino looked even more confused “Your father? The owner of Onodera Publishing? But Isaka-san called us for a meeting here.”

“You weren’t the only ones. Isaka-san also called Usami Akihiko, who took Takahashi Misaki from Japun with him. They are inside but Isaka-san didn’t appear. We think he is only coming tomorrow with my father.”

Takano snorted “That bastard, why the hell he wanted us here today!?”

Mino quickly covered his son’s ears after the first curse “Children here!”

Ritsu made sure to remember that after ward “Well, I don’t know.” He jumped out of the balcony and took the gate keys out of his pocked “Anyways, it’s too dangerous to go back now. That road is totally dark by now and it’s a long way until Tokyo. You can come in, I will lock the gate up. Do you know if somebody else is coming?”

Mino shook his head “As far as we know it’s just us.”

“Okay.”

Ritsu run to the gates and locked them up, checking twice to make sure it wouldn’t open. After feeling satisfied he run back to the house. He smiled at the star full sky and sited in the wood.

“I have forgotten how beautiful this place was…”

“Oi”

He jumped “Dawn it, Takano-san! Don’t scare me like that!”

“…Sorry” Masamune looked at the sky and sited by his side. Ritsu felt like swallowing and looked at the sky again, pretending his boss wasn’t so close to him “What did you mean just now? About forgetting?”

Ritsu looked at him for a second before turning back to the stars “This house belongs to my family. I used to come here a lot when I was younger.  Coming back after so long made me remember why I liked here. When you stop to think, it seems like a book’s scenery.”

Masamune looked around “You’re right. It does.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath “Ah, it’s good to stay out of the city once in a while.”

Without conversation after this, the only sound was the low chat from inside of the house – probably between Misaki and Mino. Even if Masamune’s presence made him feel nervous, he couldn’t but think this was good. But… there was something strangely familiar… Oh. It was that.

Suddenly, a hand took his. He looked at Masaume jumpily while the other only got near “O-Oi! What do you think you are doing?!”

“I want to touch you.”

Ritsu felt his face get warm and closed his eyes. Even if his head screamed ‘no!’, he couldn’t force himself to stop Msamune from getting even more close.

But, when he could even feel Masamune’s breath in his lips, the sound of light foot steps and a high voice took him back to his senses.

“Onodera-san! Takano-san!”

Ritsu pushed Masamune away as fast as he could. He decided to ignore the painful moan that came from the other when he fell from the balcony.

“Oh, Yamato-kun!” he cried nervously.

Yamato looked at Masamune who was getting up “Why was he laying on the grass?”

“No-No reason at all! Takano-san just likes to stay really close to the nature!” again, he ignored Masamune, who called him a idiot “Do you need anything, Yamato-kun?”

Yamato looked back at him “Dad and Takahashi-nii-san will make diner. They need to know where everything is.”

“Oh!” Ritsu got up “They don’t need to do that! Let’s go, I will help.”

Yamato nodded and went inside first. Ritsu took a breath and followed. Just as he passed by the genkan, a pair of hands hold him against the wall, and before he could protest Masamune had his lips pressed against his. He tensed, but didn’t resist. Masamune didn’t go farter than a simple, gentle, kiss.

He stepped back from Ritsu – who was as red as a tomato – and patted his head.

“Let me help them. With your cooking abilities, maybe we will end all dead.”

He lowered his head as Takano departed. He didn’t even paid attention to the insult as his mind was thinking about something else.

‘I wont tell him…’ he thought, ashamed ‘I won’t tell him how ten years ago I used to imagine how it would be bringing senpai with me to enjoy summer… together.”

He shook his head and headed to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, in one of the rooms, Akihiko covered his mouth to muffle the sound of another dry cough. He had the impression of this one being stronger than the others.

‘Right’ he thought catching his breath ‘Maybe I should stop smoking… for a while’.


	2. Strange house, strange things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what is correct: turn on the car or start the car?  
> Thank you all for all the kudos left in the first chapter!! I'm so happy!!!  
> Remember, I won't be offended if anyone decide to correct my english in the comments.   
> Enjoy it!

He could remember all the pretexts Masamune invented so they would sleep in the same room last night.

But he also could remember he put the others futon in the other side of the room before going to sleep.

So… why did he have arms around himself that weren’t his?

 He struggled against the hold Masamune had around him to free himself and sighed. He was getting used to it, somehow, but he didn’t want to risk being caught by one of his “guests” if someone decided to enter the room.

He got up and stretched out to relax his sore muscles. Then he opened the door to the balcony. Behind him, Masamune moaned in protest to the suddenly sun light on his face. Ritsu got a change of clothes on his bag and went to the bathroom. In the hallway, he found Mino already dressed up and Yamato still in his pajamas – and by “pajamas” he meant a shirt he lent to the child to sleep. Yamato wasn’t small, but the shirt Ritsu lent him served as a nightdress.

“Oh, good morning, Onodera-san” Mino smiled at him.

“Good morming, Mino-san, Yamato-kun” he smiled equally.

“Takahashi-kun insisted on preparing breakfast. He is already on the kichen, but Usami-sensei is still sleeping.”

“Oh. Takano-san is still sleeping, too. Have you used the bathroom yet?”

“Yes. You can use it. Let’s go, Yamato.”

Ritsu sighs, relieved under the how water. With the unexpected visitors he didn’t have any time to take a shower in the last night. He hoped that his father and Isaka would arrive soon. The earlier they finished the meeting, the better. Maybe he could convince to let him miss work to stay a day or two in property. The deadline had passed and everything at work was as tranquil as it could be.

He dressed up after showering and went to the kitchen where everybody was. He noticed how Yamato hided behing Mino, looking nervous at an angry Akihiko. Ritsu remembers the time when he was Akihiko’s editor, and knew how normal the bad temperament the author had in the mornings.

“Goodmorning.”

They answered and Ritsu took his part of the meal and thanked Misaki before eating quietly. When everybody was done, he offered to wash the dishes.

“I’m going to help you” Mino said “Yamato, can you help us clean the table?”

Yamato nodded “Hm.”

“Hey” Misaki started “Do you think Onodera-chichi and Isaka-san will take too long to get here?”

Ritsu stopped before going to the kitchen “My father didn’t say at what time he was coming, actually, he didn’t even told me why he needed to talk to me. Did Isaka-san say something to you?”

“No” Masamune shook his head “To tell the truth, he didn’t even say when he was coming, like your father. We just presumed he would be here when we got here, since that was the day he stabilized for us to be here in the last minute.”

“Last minute?” Ritsu looked at him confused.

“Well…” Misaki cleared his throat “Usagi-san and I received a call from his yesterday by the morning.”

“Takano-san and I received it after lunch yesterday.” Mino told “I couldn’t find anyone to look after Yamato, since it was a last minute order. Isaka-san just said it was a ‘important meeting’.”

Masamune got up and took his phone out of his pocket “That’s it. I will call him and find out at what time he is coming.” He got out of the dining room.

Ritsu looked at Akihiko “Usami-sensei, are you feeling better? That cough from yesterday seemed really bad.”

Akihiko nodded “Yes. It was just a silly thing.”

Misaki made an angry face “I’m telling you, it’s those cigarettes…”

 

While Mino and Ritsu washed the dishes, Misaki offered to take a walk on the property with Yamato.

“It will be good for him” Mino said with a smile “There isn’t much space in Tokyo for him to have fun in a green and safe place like this. Also, Takahashi-kun said he had a nephew and is used to children. He also said that Usami-sensei was one of them…”

After washing the dishes, they followed to the balcony in the back where Masamune looked at his phone with anger.

“Hm? Takano-san?” Ritsu walked to his side “Any problem?”

“This place…” he grind his teeth “has no signal.”

“WHAT?! But we have a signal amplifier here! It’s not possible that…” he took his phone out of his pocket just to come across a “no signal” warning. “How strange…”

Mino sighed looking at his own phone “Nothing here, too.”

“I will see what happened. The amplifier stays in a tool storage room in the other side of the house.”

Masamune and Mino watched Ritsu depart until they couldn’t see him and both sat in the balcony. They could see Yamato play with a tree branch around a cherry tree while Akihiko and Misaki chatted not far away from him. The cherry flowers bloomed a few days earlier there, they noticed.

They stayed in silence just watching the landscape in front of them when they heard running footsteps and turned around. Ritsu stopped out of breath in front of them.

“The amplifier…” he stopped to take deep breaths.

“Oi, calm down first” Masamune hushed to his side and put a hand on his shoulder “Don’t talk, just breath.”

Ritsu nodded and tried to calm down as much as he could before talking to them again with a troubled expression “The amplifier disappeared.”

“What?” Mino asked “Wait, are you sure there was even one?”

“Yes! And the proof are the cables that are still there! It looks like it was ripped out since the cables seem smashed.”

The editors looked at each other. “It seems there is something wrong in this place…” Masamune affirmed.

Mino pressed his lips in a tight line “Maybe someone stole them?”

“I wouldn’t make sense steal an amplifier and not anything of the decoration” Ritsu said fast “I’m not saying it to brag, but my mother spent a fortune with this house’s looking! And there are a lot from the Meiji era here!”

“Oi!” they turned around to Akihiko who run to meet them “Something is wrong? Yamato noticed the discussion and Misaki asked me to ask what is going on before the kid could hear.”

 They explained to Akihiko the strange situation. In the end, Akihiko tried to check his own cellphone and confirmed the missing signal.

“Ok, that’s what we are going to do” Masamune said “We wait until 4 p.m. If neither those two appear to explain themselves, we get the hell out of here and the next time Isaka call us for a meeting in the middle of nowhere, or if Onodera calls he son to an empty house, again, we tell them to go fuck themselves.”

Ritsu wanted to ask his editor in chef to calm down, but himself wanted to go home that exactly moment feeling kind of nervous. He would just do what Masamune said: if neither his father or Isaka appeared soon, they would go back to Tokyo immediately before dark.

He tried to believe the other would come with a good explanation.

Tried to.

They made up an excuse to not worry Yamato and Misaki too much, but the two youngest could feel the tension as time passed. They ate lunch, and waited more. Mino even took Yamato to play again in the back field around the cherry trees trying to calm him down… and himself. Misaki tried to ask what happened when Yamato wasn’t near them, but Akihiko made up another excuse, not wanting to worry him even more.

They were sitting in the balcony in complete silence when the alarm from Masamune’s phone rang at 4 p.m.

“OK, THAT’S IT” He yelled angrily and got up “LET’S GO!”

Ritsu sighed and did the same “I will just grab my things. I can go with you, right? My phone has no signal to call my ride…”

“OF COURSE YOU CAN, IDIOT, WHAT KIND OF STUPID QUESTION WAS IT?!” Msamune yelled scaring Yamato who was coming with Mino.

Ritsu held his breath for a second and let it out, trying not to yell something that would make Masamune’s mood even worse. He went to the room he slept last night to get his things. There wasn’t much. The pajamas he haven’t put away yet, some personal hygiene itens, another change of clothes and-

He heard a loud noise behind him and turned around scared.

There was a desk in that room with a few objects for decoration – an old lamp, a ceramic pot and a feline made of metal. The small feline statue was made of _solid metal_. Ritsu considerate it as a heavy object for it’s size. It was the kind used as a paper weight.

Yet, how could it fall on the ground… when Ritsu was the only one in the room?

He knew there must have a logic explanation. Maybe Masamune entered the room in absolute silence and knocked down the feline to scare him and got out of the room fast (a small voice in his head told him there wouldn’t have enough time to Masamune knock it down and run without being seen by Ritsu, since the younger turned around so fast). But still, after looking at the object on the ground for some time, his first instinct was to put away his things as fast as possible – _his hands were shaking_ – and run out of the run.

“Dawn” he cursed passing his shaking hands on his face “That… was something from my head… i-it could be just that…”

His small panic grew when he couldn’t believe in his own words.

He relaxed a little when he got in the front door where all the others were.

“What took you so long?” Masamune asked. He didn’t seem as angry as before, but still stressed.

“No-nothing” he lied following straight to out of the house with the others.

“Oi, what happened? You look like you saw a ghost”

“It was nothing!” he said louder than he wanted so he cleared his throat “Just… let’s go, already.”

Masamuned looked at him worried, but nodded. Mino approached and said “Are you sure, Onodera-san? You are pale. It would be bad traveling if you are feeling sick.”

“I said I’m alright. The fastest we go back to Tokyo, the bett-”

He was interrupted by another dry cough from inside of the house.

“Usagi-san!” they heard Misaki yell.

Ritsu run back to inside followed by Masamune and Mino. Yamato, confused and worried, just followed the adults.

“Usagi-san!” Misaki yelled again not knowing what to do. Akihiko was sitting in the genkan using both of his hands to cover his mouth. What called their attention was how wet it started to sound. His face was contorted in clearly pain.

“Oi, Usami-sensei” Mino was the first to run to his side, knocking on his back “Takahashi-kun, go find some water!”

“Ye-yes!” he said and run to the kitchen.

Akihiko wide his eyes when a stronger cough came and moved his hands from his mouth to his chest. Out of breath, he tried to pull the air with his mouth open. What made they panic was the dark liquid running down from the corner of his mouth.

Blood.

“Shit!” Masamune cursed and run to help Mino put Akihiko upright “Onodera, go open the gates!”

“He needs to go to a hospital” Mino warmed “Where’s the closest one?”

Ritsu tried to calm down. He couldn’t have a panic attack at this moment. “There is one in a near village! It’s small but I think they can help us!”

Misaki came running with a plastic cup of water, but let it fall when his saw how his loved was “Usagi-san! What-!”

“Takahashi-kun” Mino called him “Onodera will open the gates, we need you to start the car and save time while Takano-san and I put Usami-sensei in the back sit. Now!”

Misaki nodded and didn’t think twice before running out of the house right behind Ritsu. Yamato, not knowing what to do, followed the older of the two.

Ritsu didn’t even look behind for a second as he run, keeping all of his anxiety on the strong hold aroung the gate’s key. When he was in the middle of the way, a yell made him stop alarmed.

“THE CAR WONT START!” Misaki yelled trying to turn the key of Masamune’s car multiple times.

“THEN TRY IN THE ONE YOU TWO CAME IN!”

Suddenly, Akihiko started to pull the air in even stronger “Dawn!” Mino cursed and helped the author stand up “Takahashi, Onodera! FAST!”

Ritsu came to his senses and started running to the gates again, inserting the key in the lock right when he got there. His heart stopped when he relised something.

There wasn’t any keyhole there.

“What?” his hands started shaking again “But… that’s not… possible…”

He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Nothing. Nothing. Just pure metal and wood.

Misaki turned the key in Akihiko’s car multiple times, gaining the same results from Masamune’s car. His heart was beating so fast, there wasn’t words enough to describe all the panic he and Ritsu felt this moment. “IT ALSO DOESN’T WORK!” he yelled in despair.

Masamune run to the car “GET OUT!” he pulled Misaki out of the vehicle, not even worrying if he got hurt or not. He believed Misaki was doing something wrong, but he started to panic also when it still didn’t work. He cursed and run to the other car. Same bullshit.

Ritsu still looked at the place where the keyhole should be. He wasn’t shaking. He didn’t even notice he held his breath. All he could do was look in disbelief to what he was seeing.

He just got out of his shook when a small hand tucked on his sleeve.

“Onodera-san?” Yamato called confused “W-What happened? You had… a scaring expression…”

Ritsu blinked at him and looked again at the lock “Dawn…” he murmured as his panic grew. He held Yamato’s hand and started to run in the house’s direction.

At the same time, he, Masamune and Mino yelled:

“WE NEED TO GO TO THE BACK GATES!”

“NONE OF THE CARS WORK!”

“USAMI BLACKED OUT!”

Misaki helped Mino lay down Akihiko. Mino wasn’t shaking as Misaki was, but his heart beat faster than ever. He cover the author’s nose and took a deep breath before starting mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Misaki wasn’t dumb to be jealous of such a thing, he was just a bit relived that Mino knew how to do that. He silent prayed that Mino would be able to save his lover’s life somehow.

“Onodera! And the gates!” Masamune yelled as the other approached.

“We need to go the the back gates! It’s the only way out!”

“Onodera-san!” Yamato yelled and stopped, making Ritsu also stop.

“W-What happened, Yamato-kun?” Ritsu asked out of breath. But Yamato wasn’t looking at him. He looked in the gate’s direction “Y-Yamato-kun?”

Yamato still didn’t look at him. Instead, he raised his arm and pointed to the direction they came from. Ritsu followed it with his sight. Oh, how he wished he didn’t do that.

In front of the gates, was a child.

A child who definitely shouldn’t be there.

 It was a little girl with long light hair that resembled An’s. She wore a blue and white dress, and her opaque eyes didn’t show any expression or feeling. The wind blew in their direction and, suddenly, the girl raised her sight to encounter his and smiled. Then she just disappeared.

“I got it!” Mino yelled “Usami-sensei is out of touch, but he is breathing!”

But Ritsu couldn’t hear him. He too shocked with the voice of the child that sound together with the wind when she disappeared.

_No one come’s in._ She said. _No one goes out._

 

 

_We don’t want to be alone anymore._


	3. The Forgotten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> READ THIS  
> The word engawa will be marked. That's because, until now, I have been calling this a balcony, but this is the real name. Put it on google and you will see.  
> Also, a curiosity: There are two songs which inspired me to write this fanfic  
> Demons by Imagine Dragons and Go Tell Aunt Rhody from Resident Evil 7 OST. Specially Go Tell Aunt Rhody.  
> Enjoy!

While Masamune, Mino and Misaki worried about Akihiko, Ritsu just let go of Yamato’s hand and run to the backwards. In any other situation, he wouldn’t endure running so much, but the adrenaline of the moment gave him enough energy. This would be a pain for him later, for sure.

Right when he saw the back gate, he stopped running slowly – almost not being able to breath thanks to his unprepared run. He stopped within enough distance to see the lock in the gate.

Nothing.

The keyhole despaired. Worse, it was like both pieces of metal merged into one, making it impossible to open the wooden gates. Ritsu let out a giggle. Before he noticed, he was laughing skeptical like a maniac.

_‘What is happening…?’_

That was all he could think.

“Oi! Onodera!” someone called him.

_‘What the FUCK is happening here?!’_

“Oi! Wake up!” someone shook him by his shoulders “What is your problem? RITSU!”

He stopped laughing, waking up from his shock. He looked up finding the worried look on Masamune’s expression. “Ta-Takano-san…”

“What happened?” the passing a hand by his hair “Geez, where are the gate keys? We need to take Usami-sensei to a hospital even if we need to carry him!”

Ritsu gulped and lifted up a shaking hand, pointing to the gates. “It’s the same as the other” he said, almost in a whisper.

Masamune walked away to see the lock “What the hell? It doesn’t even look like it used to be a keyhole here! Are you sure they didn’t close it and the other-”

“Yes, of course I am!” Ritsu yelled “The other is in the exactly same way, and we entered by it! I-I don’t know what happened or how we are going to take Usami-sensei to a hospital because these were the only ways out!” he started to hyperventilate “I-I don’t know what is happening, be-because none of us could have done this, a-and that means…”

“Oi, calm down!” Masamune hold him by his shoulders gently “Take a deep breath. Look, Takahashi and Mino took Usami to one of the bedrooms inside of the house since none of the cars work.” He hesitated, noticing how stranger their situation was getting “Let’s see how he is doing and decide together what to do, alright?”

Ritsu gulped and crossed his arms around the top of his belly, feeling a suddenly stomachache, much like his anxiety attacks. Dawn, it wasn’t time for this. He nodded nervously. Masamune passed his arms overs his shoulders and he didn’t felt like withdrawing this time. Feeling the younger slightly shaking, Masamune hugged him tightly.

‘Isaka… why did you sent us here?’

 

“WHERE IS HALF OF THIS DEPARTMENT?!”

Kisa and Hatori looked confused at each other before looking at the publishing’s director.

“Hm…” Kisa smiled nervous “Isaka-san, Ricchan needed to resolve some matters with his father, and you called Mino-san and Takano-san for a last minute meeting…”

“What are you talking about?” Isaka asked “I haven’t called any of you for a meeting since last week!”

“But it was you on the phone” Hatori looked at him in confusion “I answered the phone myself before passing it to Takano-san when you asked.”

“Are you crazy? I would have came here myself if I needed such a thing, I work in the building! And why would I set a meeting out of Marukawa for the same reason?”

Kisa and Hatori, again, shared a confused look trying to understand what that meant.

 

Misaki looked with worry at his unconscious lover.

While Masamune went to look for Ritsu, he helped Mino take Akihiko to the first bedroom they saw. They have laid him down in a futon and got even more worried when the author shows symptoms of a high fever.

“Usagi-san…” he whispered putting a wet cloth on his forehead “Why didn’t you tell us you were feeling so bad?”

Mino sighed “I think he didn’t want to getting worried, like now” he looked around “Hm… Takahashi-kun, can I ask you something?”

“What?” Misaki lifted his face and got surprised. Suddenly, he looked really scary “Mi-Mino-san?”

“I will need to ask you to not leave this room for any reason, unless I call you myself. Understood?”

“Y-Yeah, but why-”

“Oi” Masamune entered the room with Ritsu “So?”

Mino sighed – the dark aura around him despaired. “He is starting to have a fever. A high one. Is the gate open, finally? We can try to make an improvised stretcher, or something to take him.”

“Locked. Both of them.” Masamune answered. His answer astounded the other two “It’s like the pieces were melted together. The keyhole was covered.”

Mino got up “This is strange. The cars don’t work, the gates were closed and the signal amplifier was taken. Someone doesn’t want us to get out of this property.”

“Wait” Misaki got up too “If everything is locked, it means that if no one gets out… no one gets in, right”?”

Ritsu’s eyes widened and a shiver run up his spine.

‘No one comes in. No one goes out. We don’t want to be alone anymore’, the child’s voice echoed in his memories.

“Dawn…” he murmured running a hand through his hair.

It wasn’t only him. All the other had the same panic sight. Through the window, they could see the orange sky getting more and more dark.

“Ok” Mino said, trying to keep himself composed “I think it’s for the best that all of us stay in this room. Onodera-san, do you know any other way out?”

Ritsu shook his head “No. There were other gates a long time ago, but my grandfather decided there were too many to take care of, so he removed them and build walls to cover the openings.”

“How about climbing over the wall?” Masamune suggested.

“We can’t take Usagi-san with us this way!” Misaki protested “We can’t leave him behind!”

“Right, sorry” Masamune massaged his tempores “So what are you going to do?”

“We will think of something” Mino leaned on the cabined behind him “But, as I said, we should all stay in this room for now. Usami-sensei’s situation is still unstable and it would be dangerous if one of us found, alone, who is doing this with us. And I would like for everyone to stay away from the door and windows. Specially you, Yamato” he blinked and looked around “ _Yamato?!_ ”

All of them looked around finally noticing the missing presence of the child.

“Oh, shit” Mino said “Where did he go?!”

Ritsu let out a yelp “Oh my god, I’m sorry, Mino-san! H-He was with me when I run to open the front gate and… I think he followed me to the back wards…”

Masamune looked at him “He wasn’t anywhere near when I went looking for you.”

Everyone shared a panicked expression.

“Oh no” Ritsu opened the door fast “I’m sorry, I lost him from sight, I will look for him!” and run.

“WAIT!” Masamune yelled and run after him.

“WAIT, TAKANO! I WILL COME WITH YOU!” Mino followed him.

Misaki just watched everything in shock. He got up thinking about calling for them, but if he got out who would take care of Akihiko?

He looked at the unconscious author in the futon and took a deep breath. He couldn’t get panicked, he couldn’t get scared. Not in this moment. Akihiko needed him.

“Right” he said to himself and closed the room’s door “ _Right._ ”

He took two chairs from a table in the room and put them in front of the door. If someone entered the room, at least he would have time to react. He looked at the window. He had the vision of the front ward, so he was able to see the front gate. He closed the window, but didn’t locked it. He needed another way out except for the door.

He heard Akihiko moan painfully and turned his attention back to him. He found another blanked in the cabinet and rent it in various pieces, one of them was taken into the water bucket. He changed the other one in Akihiko’s forehead for the “new” one and sighed.

“Don’t worry, Usagi-san” he took his hand “Everything will be alright in the end.” He tried to let out a chuckle “Arikawa must be mad thinking where we are. You forgot another deadline, didn’t you? I think that after all of this… she should give you a little vacation…” he tried to keep a smile, but it was too hard “Yeah… you can rest when we get back, I… hm… I can let you ‘recharge’ of me when you want to… ok, maybe just sometimes.”

He stood a few second just watching Akihiko’s chest rise and fall slowly, and his reddish face – because of the fever. Misaki sighed and hold his lover’s hand between both of his.

“Please…” he whispered “Just stay ok…”

Holding Akihiko’s hand, he noticed something wet on it. Misaki moved away and saw this was the hand Akihiko had coughed blood on. He let out a yelp and almost let go of the hand, when he noticed something.

The smell.

He lifted the hand up to his nose e breathed the blood just to move away quickly, covering his nose.

“What terrible smell is this?!”

He gulped and checked again. Looking more attentively, the blood on Akihiko’s hand was too dark sticky to be blood, and that smell… it was the smell of _rot._

He couldn’t think of any sickness or internal damage that could cause this. But even if he knew about any, something like this would only be able to be treated in a hospital. All he could do, was pray.

He kept in constant alert to any sound from inside or outside of the room.

He would definitely protect Akihiko.

 

An hour earlier.

“I got it!” Mino yelled “Usami-sensei is out of touch, but he is breathing!”

Yamato looked at his dad before looking again at the child. They should have the same age, probably.

The wind blew over them and the child disappeared. He let out a surprised yelp. Before he could go to the child’s previous location, he saw Ritsu run in the opposite direction. Confused, Yamato followed him, trying to catch up with the adult as much as he could. He couldn’t understand what all of that meant, all he could understand was that Akihiko was feeling bad and they needed to get out.

But, when passing by the house, something called his attention, making him stop to look at.

He was sure that he saw a child in the **engawa*** run back inside of the house.

Yamato was a child. Children are curious. No. _Humans_ were curious. And so was him. But, maybe, an adult would have think twice before following the unknow child by impulse.

“Oi!” he called entering by the same door as the other child.

He haven’t seem that hallway until now. With all the doors and windows closed, excepted the one he entered through, the hallway was completely dark. He walked a few steps “Hello?”.

A small giggle behind him answered. He turned around fast with the scare. The door he entered closed with a loud “THUM”. Yamato spun around scared.

“W-Who is there?” he asked.

“I am” he looked at the end of the hallway, where the same girl from before was. She was holding a paper lantern, illuminating the space around her “Just me.”

“Who are you?” he stepped back when she started to slowly walk in his direction.

“I don’t know. It has being so long that I forgot the name my master gave me.”

“Your… master?” he stopped walking backward when his back hit the wall. There was no scape from there.

Right, he shouldn’t fear a girl his age, he could easily knock her down by pushing her like some of the mean boys from his class have done to some of the girls before. But that girl in front of him wasn’t like the girls from school – they didn’t have that scary smile and perfect features. That girl in front of him made him think more of a doll than a girl from his class.

“Yes, my master” she nodded stopping a few meters in front of him “Our masters.”

Yamato didn’t have any time to react when a bunch of hands _– children’s hands –_ came out of the wall and hold him against it.

“Ah!” he screamed, struggling against them “LET ME GO! LET ME GO!”

The hands hold his shoulders, legs, neck and torso. They were too much stronger than him, so trying to take them off with his hands was useless. Another hand came out of the wall and covered his month. He still tried to scream and struggle to scape.

“It’s useless to scream” the scary girl said, just a few inches from him, now “You are like us, aren’t you?”

‘LIKE YOU?’ he tried to scream.

“Hm… We can’t talk like this. Well, I will ask for them to uncover your month, but remember: no one can hear you from here.”

Right when the hands left his month, he screamed: “LET ME GO! DAD! SOMEONE! HELP ME!”

“I already told you” the girl sighed angry “No one can hear you out of this hallway.” Then her expression relaxed, looking even gentle “You are… like us.”

“Like you?!”

“You also have been neglected by your father, haven’t you? We were too. The most of us have been throwed as trash.” A dark aura covered her face “or have been dirtied in worse ways.”

“No!” Yamato yelled facing her “My dad have nerver done anything like that!”

The girl smiled malicious “Oh, are you sure?”

Yamato recoiled his face, nervous “Y-Yes, I am sure. He… he is trying his best for me!”

The girl started to laugh “You hesitated! Do you even believe in your own words? Or are these the words of someone else?”

The girl gave another step in his direction. The hands tried to pull Yamato further against the wall and he moaned in pain. He needed to get out of here, fast!

“Hey, how about we make you one of us once for all? How about we make a _hybrid child_ out of you? If you were in the same situation as us, _that person_ would definitely make anything to save you…”

“N-No…” he didn’t knew what she was talking about or what a “hybrid child” was, but it didn’t sound good “LET ME GO!”

An idea came to his mind. His hands were free, trying to pull away those hands from him but it was useless since they were much stronger than him, so… he need to spooky them away from him. He took a deep breath to clear his mind and noticed how small was the space between him and the girl.

He took the paper lantern from her hands, who let out a surprised exclamation.

“I told you TO LET GO OF ME!”

He rocket the lantern, and the candle inside fell, burning the paper. The fire was enough for the girl to step back. Yamato rocked the burning lantern around, being careful to not burn himself. It worked: scared high toned voices sizzled and the hands retreated back to the wall, letting him go.

He left the lantern on the ground and pushed the girl in front of him before running away.

He didn’t look back, but could hear the girl’s angry screams and the voices sizzling louder.  Something was coming behind him, he could feel it. He passed by a door, but hands came out of it. He run to the next, but the same thing happened. He finally realized he was crying. Of course, he was scared, in panic.

He let out a scream and a pair of hands pulled him inside on the third door.

He fell on the ground being released from the hold and heard the door being closed. The sizzling stopped. Everything was completely silenced. Yamato opened his eyes confused and looked around – it looked like a… counting house? Or something like that?

He turned around and tried to open the door. It was locked.

“I wouldn’t try this if I were you.” A childish voice said behind him.

He let out a yelp and turned around fast. The moonlight entered the room by the window, but it didn’t reach the human form of a child standing by the shadows next to the table.

“Hello” the child said.

Yamato’s eyes wide and he turned around again, trying to open the door desperately “NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!”

“I-I’m not like them!” the unknow child – they looked like a boy, perhaps? – said anxious “I’m sorry if I scared  you, but-”

“LET ME GO!” Yamato kept on yelling “DAD! SOMONE!”

“HEY!” he turned around scared when the boy yelled “I told you. I’m not like them. I’m not going to hurt you.”

The boy lit a match to light up the lamp in the table. Yamato was surprised by seeing the boy’s features. Like the girl, the boy in front of him was, probably, as old as him. He also had too perfect features. His hair was light brown are he wore black shorts and a white shirt with a blue ribbon. What was more impressive, were his blue eyes and gentle smile, different from that girl in the hallway.

“Hello. Again” the boy said “My name is Yuzu.”


	4. Let's play

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kudos left!!! It makes me so happy!  
> One of the things I find the most interesting is child's play around the world. I suggest you guys to look for the one I used in this chapter on Youtube.  
> Hope you enjoy it!!

“Yamato-kun!” Ritsu yelled, running through the corridors “Yamato-kun!”

 _‘Dawn, since when was this place so big?’_ he thought and stopped to breath. Before, he could yell Yamato’s name again, a hand covered his month.

“Hm!” he tried to scream, struggling against the hold.

“Quiet!” Masamune ruffled “Are you crazy?! There is someone here playing with us and you start making so much noise?”

He let go of Ritsu “Takano-san, don’t scare me like that! But…” he didn’t want to acknowledge that the other was right “Ho-How do you think we are going to find Yamato?”

“If you waited, we could have thought of something together, idiot!”

“Oi!” Ritsu called, trying not to be so loud “What’s up with you? You are worse than the normal”

Masamune just closed his eyes and shook his head “It’s just… argh, this holy situation, I think. Since we are already here, how about we turn on the lights?” he pressed the switch on the wall. With the lights on, he realized they were in the dinner room “You don’t have any idea of where he could have gone? He followed you, I think. I didn’t saw him while carrying Usami to inside of the house.”

Ritsu took a deep breath – his heart feeling tight in guilt – “Well, if he didn’t came in by the front door like you guys, he probably entered by the balcony in the west side or the back wards. We already saw the back wards since we were there when waiting for Isaka-san show up, but not the west side yet.”

Masamune snorted stressed “This house is bigger than I thought.”

Ritsu gulped thinking about the girl by the gate. He was most likely imagining things, but, even so, it was something scary to remember “Hm, Takano-san, when I was checking the gate…”

He stopped. No, he couldn’t tell this to Masamune. The other would think he was crazy or something ridiculous. Himself was questioning his sanity at this moment.

“What?”

“Nothing. Do you… Do you think Yamato could be in the outside?”

“It’s possible. Want to check?”

“Yes. But first, we should go to the tool storage room. We can turn on all the lights in the house by the fuse box.”

Masamune nodded “Ok” he took Ritsu’s hand “Let’s go.”

 

Mino snorted going out to the balcony. Somehow, he lost Masamune from his sight.

Before he needed to look only for Yamato, now he needed to worry about his coworkers too. But, as a father, his son was more important. The other two could take care of themselves.

He looked around, thinking of what to do “Yamato, where did you go?”

“You didn’t have to intrude, you know?”

Mino turned around fast. A few meters away from him was a child. A boy with long black hair and blue eyes. He wore a dark blued kimono that seemed too big for him. Probably a 13 years old. But what really called Mino’s attention was the crack on his face. Yes, a _crack_. Like instead of skin he had some kind of porcelain covering his body. Looking again, only the area around the crack looked like that. The rest seemed normal, too perfect, but normal flesh.

“I’m sorry?” was all he could say.

“You didn’t have to _intrude_.” The boy repeated in a bad mood “It was dumb coming with that guy. We just needed three of you.”

Mino gulped but didn’t move, letting the boy speak.

“You thought you could keep your son protected under your wing while intruding? How stupid. You came knowing something was wrong.”

He decided to finally speak “I couldn’t let a coworker come alone.”

“But you could have let your kid out of this. You said you didn’t have anyone to take care of him? Please, a neighbor would be better than this. Some of us are jealous of him, you know? Of how he knows what fraternal love is, while most of us went through hell thanks to what we called ‘family’.”

“We? How many you are?”

“More than anyone imagines. It’s complicated.” The boy put a hand on his waist “I just came here to give you a warning. I’m not interest in you, or even your child, but do you think the others will let you pass?”

“What do you mean?”

“Wow, you are slow.” The boy sighs “Do you feel it? In the air? It’s miasma. Every bad feeling this house accumulated through the years, and most part of us where taken by it. They don’t have a form, they are just miasma now. They listen to that girl, only. No one comes in. No one goes out. That’s the order she gave.” He laughed and, in a really low voice, said “What a pity, you are all going to die here.”

And, with that, he disappeared.

It took him a few seconds to process all of this. The panic raised and with that the adrenaline to make him turn around and run. He needed to find the others. _Fast._

 

“Alright” Ritsu said closing the fuse box “All the lights must me on now. What are you doing?!”

Masamune showed him the shovel he found “What? You never know what is coming. We are locked here with a crazy person. It’s self defense.”

Ritsu didn’t found and argument to protest. Actually, he felt a little better knowing they had at least one thing to defend themselves in any case “Ok, but be careful with this.”

“…It’s just a shovel.”

“I KNOW IT’S A SHOVEL.”

They left in silence. Ritsu cheered mentally for Masamune say something, anything that would break the silence and take his attention. But this only worked when passing a random door and something made a noisy inside of it. Masamune made a move to open the door.

“Don’t!” he called and the other stopped, looking at him.

“Why not?”

“Are you really asking why? Go into a random room far from where the others might be? A room with something, or someone, we don’t know inside?”

“…You are right.”

They continued their way, until he saw a door with two vases by each side.

“Oh!” he cried and opened the door “The office! Why didn’t I thought of this before?”

“Office?” Masamune questioned following him inside.

“Yes. There are four of them. One for my father and the others for some relatives. If the family was going to pass too much time here they had somewhere to get their work done without going all the way to Tokyo.” He looked around “Also, it must be… Here!”

Ritsu run to a small table in a corner by the side of the desk chair. There was a telephone there. He started to press some digits, when he realized that the telephone’s wires were ripped off.

“Dawn…” he put the phone back in it’s place and looked at Masamune again “Maybe who did it didn’t remember the other telephones. We can check it while looking for Yamato.”

Masamune leaned in the shovel like it was a cane “We still need a plan B to get out of here or find help. You know the place, something in mind?”

He shook his head “Nothing until now. Maybe… maybe…” he tried, but the only thing that came to his mind was climbing the walls. They were too high. They couldn’t go with Akihiko that way. He ran his hands over his face “Dawn…”

“Hey” Masamune let the shovel leaned against the wall and walked in his direction. He took Ritsu’s hands – which he didn’t noticed were shaking – and brought him closer to a hug. Ritsu didn’t resist. Just hugged the other back. He needed it in that moment. Any kind of comfort was welcomed and his pride could go to hell. “Don’t worry.” Masamune kissed the top of his head “It’s going to be alright. We will get out of here.”

Ritsu hugged him tighter. They stayed like this for a few seconds before departing from each other’s arms. He felt a little, just a little, more calm.

He also notice while departing from the hug that Masamune’s hands where slightly shaking. He was scared too.

Ritsu took hold of one of his hands “Hm… Takano-san…”

Masamune looked at him confused when he stopped talking. Ritsu took a deep breath and, fast, he pulled Masamune’s face for a quick kiss and gave a step back. His cheeks felt like burning.

“We-We will get out of here. _All_ of us. Like you said.”

Masamune blinked surprised, then he smiled and nodded.

Before they left, the telephone started ringing.

“…You said the wires were ripped off” Masamune tighted his hold in the shovel.

“...And it was.” Ritsu turned around slowly, shaking again when he saw the telephone ringing. They waited until it stopped ringing, but, then, it started again. “I-I think he want’s one of us to pick up…”

“Seriously?” Masamune ran a hand over his face “A telephone that rings wireless? What else are we going to see?”

Ritsu gulped and walked in the telephones direction. He took a deep breath before taking it and bringing to his ear, fast.

“Hm… Hello?” he said.

The line was in silence for a few seconds, like it wasn’t even working, and he was ready to put it away when a child like voice said:

“Let’s play Daruma-san ga koronda! We start after the first step! I am Oni!”

And the line was mute again. Ritsu looked at the phone in confusion “What did you mean by that?”

“Oi, what did they say?” Masamune asked.

“They sounded like… a child. A boy.” He explained, still not believing in all of this “He said he wanted to play Daruma-san ga koronda.”

“Play what?”

“Hm? Takano-san, you have never played Daruma-san ga koronda when you were a child?”

“Not that I can remember of.”

Ritsu put the phone away “Well, when playing Daruma-san ga koronda, one player would be ‘Oni’, and he stay with his eyes covered and his back away from the other players which objective is getting as close as they can to the Oni. But, the players can only move while Oni is singing ‘Daruma-san ga koronda’. When he stops, he turns around and take as a ‘prisoner’ anyone he sees moving.”

“Seems complicated.”

“Actually, it’s really simple when putting in practice.” Ritsu looked at the telephone again “That boy said ‘we start after the first step’… Oh, of course! The game start’s when the players give the first step! Hajime-no-ippo!”

Takano made a face of anger “That kid want’s us to play this with him? For what? Or better, why would we do that?” he took Ritsu’s wrist “Let’s get out of here and find the others.”

“NO!” The high toned voice of child screamed so loud that both had to stop and cover their ears “NO! NO! NO! I WANT TO PLAY!” he cried “IF YOU DON’T PLAY WITH ONI, ONI WILL EAT YOUR FRIENDS!”

“What?!” Ritsu yelled “Leave them out of this!”

“THEN PLAY WITH ME!” he screamed even louder one last time and went quiet, but the tension was still there.

Ritsu could feel the air getting heavier. Like the miasma from years ago.

“Dawn…” he looked at Masamune “Takano-san, he was talking about the others…”

“I know” Masamune nodded with his eyes closed in stress “Well, I don’t really want to risk anyone’s life. What do you think? Should we play?”

Ritsu nodded after a second. They couldn’t risk anyone’s life, like the other said.

They stayed a few seconds looking at the open door. Both agreed of giving the first step together to out of the room, and Oni would start to sing. And if he wasn’t in the hallway, he would need to look for him as a play went.

“Right” Ritsu said “Remember: don’t move anyway when he stop singing, or he will catch you.”

“…Understood. Together?”

“…Together.”

In synchrony, they said “Hajime-no-ippo!”

And gave the first step out of the room. The door of the office was closed fast behind them, and a child laughed while singing slowly every syllable of Daruma-san ga koronda.

“Daaaaaaaaaaaaruu…”

Ritsu and Masamune looked at each end of the hallway. There was no child in sight. Both ran to the right.

“Maaaaaaaa-saaaaaaan…”

They opened the first door that leaned them to the balcony. They ran looking around for any sight of a child.

“Gaaaaa koroooooooon…”

Ritsu noticed the singing was coming to an end and hold Masamune to a stop.

“DA!”

Both hold their breaths as they stopped moving. They heard steps running and a child laughing. Ritsu was with his sight on Masamune’s back, but the other had his on the ground and saw the small feet of the child jumping silent around them.

When he understood none of them were going to move, the child signed in deception and disappeared.

“Daaaaaaaaaaaruuuuuu…”

They started to run again.

 

“Yuzu?” Yamato repeated.

“Yes!” the child nodded happily and kneeled on the ground “Don’t worry! This is a safe room!”

Yamato gulped and slid through the door until he ended up seated on the ground, staying as far away as he could from ‘Yuzu’.

They stayed in silence looking at each other for some  time – Yamato looking at him in suspicious while Yuzu just smiled dumbly – until Yuzu get up and look at the door behind Yamato.

“…I don’t blame them.” He said “They didn’t have the same luck as I did. Still, it’s not a excuse for that.”

“Hm?” Yamato said curious. Not having anything to lose, he decided to ask “Who are they? Who are _you_?”

“Hybrid children” Yuzu said. When he noticed how confused Yamato still looked, he proceeded “Hybrid Child is an android that is neither a machine nor a real human being. Our growing depends of how much love and care our master gives us.”

Yamato blinked. The word “android” made him think of the robots he saw on anime, so he knew what that word meant. He started laughing. “T-This kind of thing doesn’t exist!”

“Well, it existed, one day” Yuzu seated a little closer to Yamato “I was one of the few still awake since I, hm, ‘died’, and saw all the keepers this house had as the years passed. Hybrid children don’t exist anymore. Actually, I think the knowledge of how to fabricate one died with their creator.”

Yamato hugged his knees. It was to much of a headache to  protest after what he saw in the hallway so he just went along with it “Why did they do this to me?”

“Not all of the hybrid children had good masters.” The expression on Yuzu’s face turned into a sad one “It’s hard to take care of us. It’s extremely difficult taught one of us to simple act of talking or walking. Only rich people could purchase us of the only fabricator. Kind of just for showing, for need of warmth or… dirty things.” He made a disgusted face “Some would give up when they couldn’t take care of them. They said they were defected.”

“Why not just send them to their creator to fix them?”

“There was nothing wrong with them, so some ended seem as trash. The problem was: although we can’t move or talk in our starting days, we can think. We can feel.” He looked at the door again “And… some didn’t grew. And ‘not grow up’, for a hybrid child, means ‘not being loved’.”

“Not being loved?”

“I told you. ‘Our growing depends of how much love and care our master gives us’. They were jealous of you because you will grow loved by your father, but don’t worry! We are safe in this room! Some parts of the house were locked in different parts, so your friends will run in circles for some time, but as long as we stay here we are fine.”

“Oh” Yamato blinked “But… what about you? You look the same age as me, so…”

Yuzu smiled again, but in a sad way “I was loved by my master, very much. But when I was trapped here, I came back to my child stage, for some reason. It also happened to a few others.”

Yamato wide his eyes and crawled to sit closer to Yuzu “Wait, you said _trapped_?”

Yuzu nodded “It’s good that this room is safe because it’s a long story.”


	5. The Flower

Misaki bite his lower lip anxious. He hadn’t move since he sat, and even if he was ready to do anything to protect Akihiko, fear forced him to stay put even with nothing happening.

“Dawn…” he cursed shaking his head “I hope everybody is alright, it’s been quite a time since they left.”

“Oh, I think they are okay.”

Misaki lift his face fast and got up, staying between Akihiko and the voices origin before he could even think. His heart beat fast.

“Who are you?” he asked “How did you get here?!”

The child smiled, but the weak light from the window made it look sinister somehow. She were a light pink kimono and had her hair tied in two pony tails.

“Well, I just… got here!” she laughed “Wow, he looks pretty bad, doesn’t he?”

Misaki grind his teeth and tried to cover Akihiko behind him, out of the girls point of view as much as he could, like this would protect him. That girl couldn’t be normal.

“Oh, don’t worry! This is one of the safe rooms! Who would imagine... that person knew what he was doing…”

“You didn’t answer my questions” Misaki said in a louder tone “Who are you?”

“I am Hana!” she offered him a small frog purse he didn’t even notice was with her “Here! My old master own a flower shop, I learned a lot of things! Make your important person eat it and…” she hesitated for a second “Hm, the process will be delayed.” She smiled again and throw the purse at Misaki, who catch it in the air jumpy “Hope your friends will resolve this fast! Tick tock!”

Misaki looked at the frog purse in his hands. When he looked back, the girl was gone.

“W-What…?” he started to laugh, not believing “W-Where did she go?”

He decide that making questions would be worse for his sanity. Holding the small frog purse, he couldn’t say it wasn’t real. ‘Make your important person eat it’, she said. He turned around to Akihiko and fell on his knees by his side. He took off the wet cloth from his forehead and put his hand there instead.

He pressed his lips in a tight line “Your fever is getting worse…”

Misaki slid his hand from Akihiko’s forehead, running it gently through his face, until he stopped with his thumb on the author’s lower lip. He looked at the frog purse again and opened it. There were flowers inside. Dry small flowers – orange and red. He took a few with the tips of his fingers – they seemed to shatter at the smallest touch – and looked in doubt to his lover.

“Right” he took a deep breath “Ma-Maybe this is suspicious, but if this fever get’s worse it will be a huge problem. I’m sorry, Usagi-san.”

Misaki put the flowers back in the purse to try to lift Akihiko’s head. Awkward, he gave small slaps in the author’s face, trying to wake him up “Please,” he whispered “c’mon, we need to try it.”

He hold his breath for a second when Akihiko’s eyes started to open and the author grunted. It took a few seconds until the other opened his eyes.

“Misaki…” he called him a low and weak voice before start to cough, barely awake “What…”

“Shh, don’t speak.” Misaki helped Akihiko lean on him and took a little bit of the flowers in his hands “I need you to eat this.”

Akihiko didn’t pay much attention to the ask, still confused “Where” he stopped to take a deep breath. It was difficult to breath normally “are the others?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Misaki bite his lip, regretting his loud tone “So-Sorry. Just eat it, please.”

Akihiko looked at Misaki’s hand in front of his face “What is it?”

He need a lot of effort to speak. Thankfully Misaki was holding him or he wouldn’t be able to stand. Or move. It felt like his body forgot how to.

“…Don’t you trust me?”

Akihiko closed his eyes and opened his mouth, letting Misaki give him the flowers. Akihiko chewed and gulped the tasteless thing slowly. His mouth felt dry after it.

“Misaki” he called in a whisper after eating a second portion of the flowers “Water…”

Misaki was happy for bringing water to the room before… everything. He helped Akihiko sit with his back leaning on the wall before taking the water bottle on the desk. He came back and took his lovers hand.

“Can you do this?” he asked. He didn’t have any problem giving it to the other, but he needed to know how weak the other felt at this moment.

Akihiko tried to lift his arm, but a wave of pain hit him and he let it fell moaning low. Misaki bite his lip nervous.

“Here” he said and took the bottle to Akihiko’s lips “Don’t worry, w-we can’t drive now, but tomorrow early we are taking you to a hospital!” Akihiko nodded sad after drinking as much as he could of the bottle. He closed his eyes and let his head fell on Misaki’s shoulder “U-Usagi-san…”

“…”

“Hm? I-I can’t understand you…”

“…Hug me” he pled in a small voice.

He felt like his heart aching with how weak his lover sounded. Blushing a little, he hugged the author. He tried to put the author siting between his legs and the other laid his head on his chest, weakly putting his arms around his torso. Misaki pulled the covers over them and hugged his lover back.

Misaki lift one of his hands to the author’s hair “You… you can sleep, if you want.”

And so Akihiko did.

 

Mino was sure he had been in this place before.

He stopped “I need to find my son…” and let out a humorless laugh “I feel like in ‘Findind Nemo’.”

He looked around. He was in the balcony. The same one he talked with that kid before.

He had already notice, since he got in this house, that something was wrong with him. Sometimes a room or scenery would make him see things. It was like remembering something, but those couldn’t be his memories. He was never in this house, for sure, but still all these strange images always showed this place. Most of them had two other people as old as him, and other times there was a child. He never saw any of the three in his life.

He took a deep breath and moved on.

 

“After our creator died” Yuzu started “it was just a matter of time until the last one died. After all, he was the only one who knew how to make a hybrid child or to fix it. And not all defects have repair. Before it was my time to go, I remember my master made sure to destroy anything that could taught someone how to make a hybrid child.”

“Your master seems… important.”

Yuzu nodded with a smile “Yes. He was. Ichi-sama was amazing! But,” he took a deep breath, serious again “he reason why we are trapped in here, is because we are a taboo.”

“Taboo? What is a taboo?”

“Something that wasn’t supposed to exist. We were… artificial forms of life. We have feelings, we feel pain too, we have a sould, but we were locked here. Uncappable of moving on. Just one of us was able to.”

“Eh?!” Yamato yelled and got even closer, not afraid of Yuzu anymore “But how? Why out of all of you just one?”

“He was the first. Our creator, Kuroda, lost someone really important for him, and it was his wish to have him back. That’s what made him create the first hybrid child. That child was throw like trash three times, until he was found by a boy…”

“Yuzu, how do you know about all of this?”

“Ichi-sama. He found as much information as he could. He knew this was going to happen. I-I don’t know how, I think all the miasma given byt the children was getting together much before Kuroda died. He told me everything. I-I think he knew me too was… going to be left behind…” his eyes were wet, Yamato noticed, but the other dried them with his fists “Anyway, the first to be created became more human than the rest of us, somehow. But that’s not the problem.”

“Then, what is it? If it’s not that other kids trying to kill us…”

“Yamato-kun, you were one of the people who weren’t supposed to be here!”

Yamato blinked “Eh?”

“You weren’t supposed to be here! That children have specific targets, they want the key that will free them. But their anger… I’m sorry” Yuzu hugged his knees, showing a face of pure guilty “Ichi-sama left me with the knowledge to protect them.”

Yamato put his hand on Yuzu’s shoulder “Yuzu, it’s not your fault! You didn’t knew we were coming.”

Yuzu blushed awkward and looked away while Yamato took a seat in front of him. They stayed in silence, no one of them knew what to say, until a girl suddenly jumped on Yuzu.

“YUZUUUU” she yelled shaking him by his shoulders “He ate it! He ate it!”

Yuzu blinked and opened his mouth surprised “R-Really?! Are you sure?”

“Yes!” he nodded happily and sighed “That boy trust people to easily…”

“Hm” Yamato didn’t know what to say “W-What happened?”

Yuzu smiled again “Yamato, this is Hana. Like me, she grew and is going to help us.”

Hana just smiled and took a seat by Yuzu’s side with a perfect posture.

“Hm… nice to meet you. But, again, what happened?”

“Oh, remember that I told you about the first child? The only one able to move on? He reincarnated, again, and again. In this life, he was attracted to this house and the children that never grew are trying to pull him back. But it’s going to be alright… for now, at least. Hana-chan gave him something to delay the process.”

“Wait, what do you mean with ‘pull him back’?”

“They are trying to make Hazuki a hybrid child again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't remember if the flower shop girl's name was said at some point so I am naming her Hana (it means "flower")  
> Thank you all for the kudos!


	6. Sacrifices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> college happened

"-KORANDA!" 

Ritsu stopped immediately, almost falling. He let out a sigh and stood still. 

They still haven't found the child which they were playing with, and he was sure they were running in circles. But, no matter which hallways they turned into, they would, somehow, end in the same place they started. 

Ritsu was never one to believe in the supernatural, but, after all he saw in such a short amount of time, they would be dumb not to. Could it be that Akihiko's sickness at that moment was related to all of this? Most likely. The author was acting strange ever since he got into the house. 

The boy started to sing slowly again and he got the time to stretch a little. 

"It's no use" Masamune said, tired "And speaking seriously, how did we come back here again?! We must have passed by that door at least five times!" 

Ritsu looked around. The child was singing even slower, what gave him a bad impression "Takano-san, that child is keeping us in this part of the house, and I don't think it will let us go until we find them." 

Masamune stopped to think for a second and nodded "Maybe it's not find them that we need. Maybe they want something from us. I have heard stories about child spirits who wont rest and hunt for something from the past life." 

Ritsu gulped dry and waited until the song restart to answer "Well, I don't know any story involving any child, the closest I know is-" 

"Ricchan?" 

Ritsu fell a shiver go through his spine and turned around at the sound of that voice. At the end of the hallway, was a confused An. 

"An-chan?!" He yelled and let fo of Masamune's hand to walk in her direction "What are you doing here?!" 

"You invited me, did you forgot?" He blinked in confusion "I finish what I needed to do, and-" 

"ONODERA!" 

Ritsu stopped at the same time the child yelled "DA!" 

An blinked again seeing that they stopped out of nowhere "Riccha? Takano-san?" She called "What happened?" 

She gave a couple steps in Ritsu's direction, which, before he could scream, froze when he saw two black forms like tentacles come from the wall behind her. The tentacles danced following her slowly while she walked. Ritsu wanted to scream to his friend to run. 

"No..." Masamune whispered, so low that he probably was badly moving his lips "No... move..." 

Ritsu gulped and just watched with wide eyes as An got closer. When she was a few steps away from him, the tentacles grabbed her. She screamed when being dragged back to the wall. Ritsu bit his tongue trying not to scream or move, but seeing his friend being attacked, and not being able to do anything, was what hurt the most. 

"RICCHAN!" She yelled in despair, trying to free herself "RICCHAN, HELP! PLEASE, HELP ME!" 

Ritsu felt the metallic taste of blood coming from his tongue. But, if the child got him, it would only make things worse. Another high yell almost made him move if not by the low voice of Masamune behind him, just saying "no" again. 

He bit his tongue, ignoring the pain, and didn't move. 

_I am sorry, An-chan..._  

He was shocked when An lost her panicked expression and stopped moving. 

"Ah, that's boring" she said in an annoyed tone "Really, what do I need to do so one of you two will lose?" 

Ritsu's eyes wide in surprise when the tentacles disappeared and in An's place a small boy with blonde hair, golden eyes and western clothes. The boy snorted. 

"The play only get's funny when Oni catches someone!" He yelled "We wont stop until I have fun!" 

The house trembled when "Oni" yelled and Ritsu needed to hold himself tigh to not move. He just relaxed after the child disappeared and started to sing slowly and angrily, again. 

"Oh my god" he let out and fell on his knees "What was that?!" 

Masamune ran to his side and held him by his shoulders "Ignore it, he was just trying to play with your head. Kohinata isn't here." 

"I know!" He yells "But if she was... and I haven't done anything..." 

"We would have found a way to save her! C'mon, you know the game's rules! What happens when the Oni catch's someone?" 

Ritsu took a deep breath "A-Another player needs to save them." 

"See? We would have found a way" he noticed that Oni was finishing and sat down "For now, let's think." 

Ritsu nodded and both stopped when the song did. Oni said that they would only stop when they have fun and, by the looks of it, that would only happen when he catch one of them. 

No. No way. Even if there was a chance, by the rules of the game, to save someone who got caught, they couldn't risk it. 

Oni started to sing again and both started to get up. 

"DaaaaruuuuMASANGAKORONDA!" 

They stopped immediately. Right in the movement of getting up. Ritsu gulped. That was probably the worse position to stop. One of his legs was crossed, while the other was halfway from being straight. He held his breath and tried to keep balance, but Oni was taking too long and his legs soon got tired and started to tremble. Masamune was in a better position being straight. 

He prayed silent that Oni would sing again soon. Yes, he was scared of being caught, and not for no reason. He didn't knew what would happen if he did. He felt egoistic for thinking that Masamune would save him for sure, but the other didn't even knew the child's play which was the basic to solve whatever was going on. 

One of his legs weakened and he closed his eyes waiting for the fall. 

Two hands held him before this could happen. 

Ritsu's eyes went wide at the other. 

"Takano-san..." He held his breath "What have you done..." 

Masamune grind his teeth and opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when they heard the surprising light laugh of the Oni. Listening the sound behind him, he turned around and Ritsu got up fast. From the same wall that grabbed An, a black and purple mass spread in a giant stain. Ritsu grabbed Masamune's hand so they would run, but tentacles of the miasma jumped out of the stain fast. They almost couldn't run a few steps before they got Masamune. 

"Takano-san!" Ritsu yelled and grabbed Masamune's arm, trying to brake with his heels firmily pressed on the ground "Takano-san, hold on!" 

"Damn it!" Masamune cursed when trying to fight against the force pulling him from behind and grabbing on Ritsu. On that moment, none of them cared about the pain from their effort on both sides. 

More tentacles came out to grab Masamune by his legs. With extra force pulling him by his feet, he fell on the ground taking Ritsu with him. Masamune, noticing it, let go of the other's hand, but Ritsu took hold of him again. They were grabbed until they were a few feet from the mass of miasma, when Ritsu was able to take brake again. 

"Let go of me." 

Ritsu looked at him with wide eyes "What? Are you _crazy_?! No way!" 

"If you don't he will take both of us!" Masamune yelled with fear in his eyes. Ritsu hesitated for a second, not having ever seen the other in such despair before. "Let me go, Ritsu!" 

Ritsu fought when the tentacles pulled even stronger. He bit his tongue to not let out a painfull moan. It had to be another way... any way... 

"Ritsu..." Masamune grind his teeth and shook his wrist to free it. 

"No! Takano-san!" Ritsu tried to keep a hold "Please, _stop_..." 

Ritsu pulled it back as strong as he could. The palms of his hands were wet of sweat, Masamune still tried to make him let go of his hold and the tentacles were too strong. Ritsu could only look as Masamune slipped from his hands and was sucked into the mass of miasma. 

"Masamune!" 

The last thing he saw of Masamune, was the surprised expression on his face before he disappeared together with miasma. 

Ritsu stood still for some time on the ground in shock. He didn't knew what to do. Panic grew on his chest and his breath got heavier. He didn't knew where Masamune could have gone or what happened to him. He rised his trembling hands and covered his mouth. Oh god, he felt like he would vomit at any second. 

He heard the loud but light laugh of Oni behind him, who walked until stopped in front of him "One is gone. Just one more!" He gave an evil smile "What's up with that face? I made you a favor. He did hurt you a lot." 

Ritsu grind his teeth in anger "Give him back..." 

"Maybe I will" Oni turned around and hopped down the hallway "You know the rules!" 

He turned on the corner and Ritsu got up clumsy but fast to follow him. When he turned on the corner, Oni had disappeared. 

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaruuuuuuuu..." 

Ritsu leaned against the wall and tried to calm down. He was hyperventilating. The rules... what were the rules again? 

All he could think was how, two times in a row, he couldn't do anything to save two people so close to him. Ok, that wasn't the true An, just a copy made by Oni, a perfect one, but if it  _was_  An... she would have the same destiny as Masamune. And he wasn't able do anything to save him. 

He was really useless. 

He sat on the ground and hugged his knees against his chest. He need to remember the rules,  _he needed to calm down_. He wouldn't be capable of doing anything in such a state. All that came to his mind was Masamune being taken by the miasma. His thoughts went as far as to imagine what could have happened to the others. He had hope that Mino found Yamato, and that Akihiko was alright. 

Yes, he needed to believe that everybody was alright... that he could save Masamune anyway. 

With a deep breath, he passed his hands over his face. In the game, in his normal way of playing, the player who gets caught by the Oni will have to hold hands with him. To save them, another player needs to "break" the hold while Oni isn't looking at them. 

Again, his goal was find Oni. 

He waited until Oni started to sing again to get up and move. 

 

Misaki opened his eyes fast when he notices that he was almost falling asleep. 

He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes with his free hand – the other hugged Akihiko against himself. He looked at the sleeping man in his arms and laid a hand over the other's forehead and the other against his own. He let out a relieved sigh at the falling fever. 

He did regret giving the dry flowers to Akihiko when they came from a strange girl, but, now, he was happy for doing it. He leaned his head agains the wall just to get it up again when he felt a tug on his shirt. 

"Misaki..." Akihiko whispered lowly with a broken tone "Water..." 

Misaki just nodded and tried to grab the glass full of water near them without moving Akihiko too much – the author looked more comfortable in that position. Akihiko was able do drink more water than before. Even if the fever getting lower, it was still difficult for him to move feeling so weak. 

The silence was interrupt by a knock on the door. 

"Takahashi-kun?" 

"Mino-san?" Misaki called "You can come in, Usagi-san's fever is-" 

"I can't. I think the door must be jammed or something. Can you try to open it from the inside?" 

Misaki looked at the door confused. When he tried to get up, Akihiko only hold him tigher. 

"Oh, I am sorry, Mino-san." Misaki said "Did you find Yamato-kun? And where are Takano-san and Onodera-san?" 

There were a few seconds of silence – what he found too strange for the situation – before Mino gave an answer "Well, I did find Yamato. I left him in the front's balcony. I believe it's safer outside, in an open space. Let's go over there. It will also be easier for Takano-san and Onodera-san to find us." 

Misaki looked at Akihiko in his lap. The author hugged him in a tight grip "But, Usagi-san has a fever! Stay outside on the cold will just make it worse!" 

He hesitated and thought for a second. Yamato was in the balcony? Why would Mino left his son alone when it was clearly dangerous? Something was wrong. 

"Hey, Mino-san" Misaki gulped "Si-Since the door is jammed, I think no one will get in here so soon, so... why don't you go and stay with Yamato-kun to make sure he is safe? I-I can take care of things here, and when you find a way to get all of us out of here safely..." 

"Takahashi-kun, we can't stay apart for too long! C'mon, open the door and let's-" 

"No" Misaki said fast, in a tone so firm that he was surprised by himself "N-No! Mino-san, you are acting strange!" 

A few more seconds of pure silence from the other side of the door before a sigh "Takahashi-kun... Ok, what if I go seek for Yamato and bring him here? Would you feel better if I didn't left him alone?" 

He took a deep breath "Yes. I-I think so." 

"Right. I will be right back." 

Misaki hold his breath and waited until the sound of Mino's footsteps couldn't be heard by him anymore. 

"Usagi-san" he whispered while shaking the man in his arms. Usagi opened his eyes slowly "Can you get up? We need to get out of here.  _Now._ "


	7. The Left Behind

Yamato looked at the door for a few seconds lost in thought before asking "What now?" 

Hana and Yuzu looked at each other and got up, stopping each one by one side of his. "Well," said Hana "I don't think Elizabeth is waiting for us out there, but... Our power isn't enough to suppress the power of all the others who turned the house into a labyrinth." 

"There are so many like this?" 

Yuzu shook his head "No. Not the way you are thinking." 

 

Ritsu was tired of running so much. He and Oni must be playing like this for what felt like hours. His legs were exhausted and that game seemed fun for Oni, but it was turning into something annoying for him. He wasn't even scared anymore. Hardly the child would let him stop, and, even if he did so, he wouldn't go without Masamune. 

"Shit" he murmured under his breath. His legs, tired, almost gave in while he was running. Even against time, he let out a sigh of relief when Oni stopped singing. 

He found out that even if he was breathing heavy, Oni wouldn't count it like a movement, but he didn't try anything else. The worse part was that he didn't have anywhere else to look for. Since Masamune and him started the game, all the doors and hallways would take them to the same place in the end. He was trapped. 

" _Are you an_  idiot _? We_ _re you even_  thinking _when you did this?_ " 

He blinked in confusion. That memory of a bad day in the publishing came out of nowhere. It was the deadline and Masamune was stressed. Why did it came to him so suddenly? 

Ritsu took a deep breath and looked around when he could move again, trying to think about where he should go next. 

If Oni hadn't stop singing right on that moment, he wouldn't have notice the door on his right, which his line of sight was when he needed to stop. 

It was the same door that Masamune and him heard something before they found the office. When he stopped to think, he realized that he never entered this one. He knew Oni was able to create illusions like An, but play with his mind to the point he wouldn't even look at that door? It scared him. Could the suddenly bad memory from before also be part of his doings? 

The Oni started to sing again, and Ritsu run to open the door, entering the room without thinking twice. He looked around. 

"...aaaaaaaaaaaaa-saaaaaaaaaaaaaan..." 

The voice didn't make an echo like in the hallways. Actually, it sounded louder and clear in this room. Like the child was there. 

"...gaaaaaaaaaaa..." 

The room was old, like the rest of the house, but it looked even older since it was being used as a storage of old cabinets and other things from the Meiji era. Ritsu started to walk hesitant, looking around for any sign of the voice's origin. 

"...koooooooo..." 

His search took him to one of the wardrobes. A muffled voice was coming from it. With trembeling hands, he turned the key in the lock. 

"...rooooooooon..." 

He opened the wardrobe in a fast move, and jumped back out of fright when a pile of objects fell from it. 

"...da." the last syllable sound like a whisper in the air. 

The pile of objects were the base body parts of a doll. 

He jumped again when, while observing the disassembled pieces, a laugh echoed in the room. 

"You found me" the smiling voice said and sighed for the last time. 

 

"Any object made by hand with feeling has a soul" Yuzu told "Thanks to that, we are here. Hazuki wasn't Kuroda's first attempt. I think this explains enough." 

Yamato needed a few seconds thinking to understand. He thought about all the children Kuroda made without knowing and his chest felt tigher. 

 

Akihiko was strangely lighter, for some reason. That's what Misaki noticed helping the author move to another room. 

"Ok" he helped Akihiko to sit on the couch of the room they were in and turned to lock the door they came in "Where Onodera-san and Takano-san could be?" 

"Misaki..." Akihiko called him, not even being able to stay wake up for too long. He wondered what could make him so tired. Not even a fever would act like that, right? "Misaki, what is going on?" 

Misaki run to his side and measured his temperature. It was stable, but he couldn't say if it was good or bad. 

"No-nothing you need to worry about right now, Usagi-san" he looked around, and noticed another door in the other side of the room. Before he could think of a plan, Akihiko started to cough again taking his attention "Oh! Damn it, I forgot your water back in the bedroom. Usagi-san, can you get up?" 

Misaki tried to help him in a stand up position, but the author moaned in pain when his knees weakened by a suddenly pain running through his muscles, forcing him to stay in the sofa like before. Akihiko took a deep breath. It sounded badly dry. 

Misaki gulped when he saw the dark liquid running down by the corner of his lover's mouth. "Water..." He murmured, not knowing what to do. Water was the only think he could think about to help some how. Didn't doctors tell you to drink lots of water no matter what is the problem with your body? But, could he leave Akihiko alone? 

The kitchen was by the end of the hallway going by the other door, and Mino was on the opposite side of the house and the door leading to that side was locked from the room's inside. If he was fast enough, there wouldn't be much risks. 

"Alright, Usagi-san" Misaki ran to his side and helped him to keep a straighter posture "Listen closely what I am going to tell you. Try to stay awake, just until I come back. If you see anything out of normal, or if anyone tries to open any of the doors unless it's me, try to scream as loud as you can." 

Akihiko looked confused at him "I don't understand. Where are the others?" 

He bit his lower lip "I don't know. Just... do what I told you to, ok?" 

Still confused, Akihiko nodded, too tired to discuss. Misaki took a deep breath and walked to the open door, but stopped before it. He came back and gave a quik kiss on his lover. 

Akihiko looked at him with wide eyes in surprise while the boy felt his face burn. 

"Stay awake, ok?" 

Misaki got out and closed the door, faster than he wanted. 

Akihiko smiled and let out a weak laugh. He laid his head in the couch and sighed. Stay awake was going to be difficult, but he could try after this. 

"Oi, Akihiko!" 

He opened his eyes in astonishment when he heard this voice. 

"Haruhiko?" 

"Who else could it be?" His brother, stading right in front of him, rolled his eyes "Get up already, and go change into something better." 

Akihiko moved away from the couch's backrest to look at him better. Suddenly, he didn't feel not even a bit tired. Actually, he was feeling really alarmed with... something. 

"Change for what?" 

"What do you mean 'for what'? It's your birthday! Everybody is coming over, even your fiancé!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, it was kind of short. I am really happy with all the feedback I am getting - specially on tumblr on which my user is umadosedefanta - but I want to ask anyways, are you guys really linking how this story is going? I tried to make it with a horror vibe and I dont have a fully idea if its working or not. thank you all!


	8. Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> time lines are an illusion when it comes to differet points of view

Ritsu probably could have stayed in the same place he stood for the rest of the time thanks to the shock due to the dolls pieces by his feet and the disappearance of Oni. Not only the voice stopped, but there was also something different in the air, like it was easier to breath, suddenly.

He could have just stayed there, trying to absorb everything, until a voice called for his name.

"Onodera?"

_Masamune_ _._

Ritsu ran out of the room, not caring about the furniture corners he hits in the process,.

"Takano-san!" He called going out in the hall.

He ran until the end of the hall, and almost jumped scared when a pair of arms hugged him from behind. He turned around fast, hugging the man back.

"...tsu.." Masamune called him, voice stuffy by having in mouth against the smaller's hair "Rit... Ritsu... Ritsu... Thank's god, you are ok."

"Idiot" Ritsu felt himself blush against the other's chest, but he kept a tigh hug around Masamune "You are the one who disappeared. I should be the one saying this."

Masamune steped back from the hug only to take his lips. Ritsu wrapped his arms around his neck.  _God_ , by this time he didn't give _a fuck_  to his pride. He was just so happy to have the other back. Even when they parted, Ritsu held the other's face near his, trying to control the tears that came out "You are...  _okay_... When that thing got you... I... I..."

Masamune held his hands – which he only now noticed were shaking – and leaned on the touch. "Hey, I am okay now, see?" He let out a chuckle "I never thought I would see you this worried after all..."

Ritsu sniffed and retreated his hands to wipe the tears away "We would have problems if Emerald's chef editor didn't come back."

Masamune smiled and hugged him again "Of course. There would be too many questions."

Ashamed, Ritsu let himself hide his face in Masamune's chest, craving contact. Just a little more.

Mino gave up trying to find a way to the insides of the house and crossed the backyard to another building. He stopped for a second and took a look around himself. It was spring, and the backyard was decorated with multiple kinds of flowers, perfectly matching in colors and sizes. Was Mrs. Onodera who choose them or a professional was hired for this? It didn't matter, it was beautiful anyways. Also, in that moment, it wasn't the flowers calling his attention, but the cherry blossoms, which seemed to glow under the moonlight. Maybe, when they got out, and those ghosts were gone, he could ask Ritsu to make the department's meet up there. Or not. He forgot that the place belonged to a rival's of the company.

Mino walked straight with his thoughts away, until something hit him by his waist. He moaned low in pain and looked down. He was so distracted and didn't notice there was a  water well in the middle of the way. There was an ring over it with a rope and a bucket in red and white, or what it looked to be one day, being shabby by the passed time. He inclined over the well, curious, to take a look of the inside. He could see the water in the deep of it thanks to the moonlight.

"Have a good trip."

He didn't have the time to look who said it behind him. Two hands collide with his back, pushing him down the well.

Yamato walked between Hana and Yuzu by the halls. There wasn't a signal of the girl who was after him before or the scary hands. The hallways, now, had their lights on and looked normal... if not by the memories of the previous events and the heavy silence.

"Hm... where are we going?" He asked. Hana and Yuzu only told him it was safe to go out, taking Yamato with them.

"We are looking for someone" Yuzu answered "We can pass by the traps inside the house, so we aren't walking in circles like everyone else."

"We need to find them before they are catch!" Hana yelled and looked at him.

Yamato gulped and looked ahead. It was strange. Yuzu and Hana looked like children his age, even if too perfect looking, like him and his classmates, but their eyes were like his father's and his colleges. These two were part of the small number of Hybrid Children to grow up, to be  _adults_ , as they told him, but why were their spirits like this? It didn't make any sense to him.

"The kitchen!" Hana yelled suddenly and ran to the next door "Someone is in there!"

They ran after her and both hybrid children wait for Yamato to open the door. Hoping it was his father on the other side, he pushed the door fast.

"Dad!" He yelled mistakenly entering the room.

"Wow!" Misaki yelled, scared by the suddenly shout. The cup he was holding fell on the ground and broke "Yamato-kun, you scared me!"

"Yamato felt his cheeks blushing "S-Sorry. Takashi-nii, have you seen my dad?"

Misaki looked at him sadly "No. I am sorry." He tried to give a small smile, nervous "B-But you can stay with me until we find him. And Onodera-san and Takano-san too!"

Yamato nodded sad. Suddenly, he was pulled behind Misaki forcibly.

"Who are you?!" He asked looking at Hana and Yuzu, who stood by the door. And murmured: "With all of this I can't trust anyone, not even children..."

"Takashi-nii, it's ok" Yamato let go of the other's hold and ran to stand by Hana and Yuzu's side "They are my friends. They are helping me find everyone."

"I understand, but-" he looked nervous "where did you two come from? The house was empty and the gates-"

"How rude!" Hana snorted "I saved your boyfriend and you don't even remember me."

Misaki's eyes shine recognizing the girl "Oh, it was you! So-sorry..."

"We were already inside the house" Yuzu explained "We have been here... for a long time." He took Misaki's hand and pulled "Let's go! We have to find your rabbit, fast!"

"Usagi-san?" He asked and guide them to the kitchen's door "I left in in the living room- Oh, dawn. I need to bring his water."

Hana stopped "Yo-You left him alone?!"

Misaki stood alarmed by the girl's suddenly change "Ye-yeah...? W-We couldn't find any of the others, a-and I was just getting some water..."

Yuzu gave his hand a squeeze "We need go now! Or they will take him!"

Neither Misaki or Yamato asked what they meant, they just ran to the living room. Panic caused by the simple reaction of the kids. If something happened to Akihiko, he would never forgive himself for leaving him alone. God, he didn't know if he would be able to live with such a thing!

He was the first to get there, almost falling by stopping suddenly. He held the door and pulled it. But no matter how much he tried, it didn't open.

"Dawn!" He cursed, forgetting there were kids in front of him for a second "Usagi-san! Open the door, please! If you can hear me, please open the door! Usagi-san!"

Yamato looked back at Hana, who held his shirt tigh. Her eyes were wide in pure panic.

"Hana-chan?" He called for her, scared of her expression.

"It's... It's too late..." She looked at the verge of tears. Misaki still yelled and tried to open the other at all costs, and Yuzu watched him, not knowing what to do anymore. "For-forgive me... I-I thought the herbs mixture would be enough, but..."

That took Yuzu's attention "Hana, you did what you could. It's not your fault."

Misaki stopped and looked at them "What is happening? Does it have anything to do with his sickness?" He grind his teeth and closed his eyes, letting a frustrated cry out " _What are you_?"

Yamato didn't say anything, and never knew if Yuzu and Hana took notice too, but, for a moment... Misaki's eyes looked different when he opened them. The shade of green was the same, and the despair too.

But it didn't seem like they belonged to the person in front of him.

After all the despair they felt – and lots of running – Masamune agreed they should take a moment to seat and rest. Right now, they were sitting side by side in the hallway, Ritsu's head laid on Masamune's shoulder.

"Can you think of where the other's could be?" Masamune asked.

Ritsu felt a little grateful. His eyes were heavy but he couldn't sleep in such a situation. Talk was the best option. "I have no idea. Usami-sensei and Takahashi-kun could have left the room they were in, for all we know. The last time I saw Yamato, he was out of the house and I wouldnt be surprised it Mino went after him."

"We can started in the backyard, then." Masamune lifted a hand to muffle Ritsu's hair "It's a start line."

Ritsu nodded and withdraw for the other to get up. Masamune followed him. He started to do some stretching, feeling like a wreck, and took a deep breath. "Let's go."

He didn't care about Masamune taking his hand as they walked out of the house.

In the backyard, they walked looking in all directions they could. Sometimes they would yell one of their companions name, but there was no answer. The passed by a water well and Masamune stopped.

"What is it?" Ritsu asked.

"A well?" Masamune asked back, touching the arc over it.

"Yeah. It was always there but we never thought about using it."

"Why not?" The older asked, trying to move the stone cover the well had.

"Because we have piped water? Takano-san, let it go, we need to move on."

Masamune nodded and left it there. They gave up after sometime and went to one of the buildings.

Akihiko got up fast. Birthday? It was his birthday? No, that didn't matter, what was happening?

"Haruhiko, where is-"

"Akihiko!"

He turned around to see his father entering by the front door, followed by Tanaka.

"Father...?" He asked walking in the man's direction.

Fuyuhiko's eyes wide at him and he put his hands on his son's shoulders "God, what clothes are those? Go upstairs and change them before the guests arrive, your mother is excited to meet Takahashi-kun."

Akihiko watched his father walk away and looked at him own clothes.

Tanaka approached and whispered: "I heard both Takahashi-kun and Usami-sama commenting how the purple shirt suits you."

He looked in confusion at the butler walking away in the same direction as his father. Right, first he would change his clothes and then look for answers. He ran upstairs to where he remembers to be his bedroom, but it was... different, from what he expected. The wardrobes were full with his things, in his desk were his laptop and notebooks with his book ideas. There were photos in places like the mirror and the desk, with his family, Hiroki and others. In all of them, he looked genuielly happy. Why did all of this give him a headache?

He let it go and took his new clothes out of the wardrobe. He made sure to remember about the purple shirt. He wore a black jacket over it and felt ready to face whatever was downstairs. He smiled seeing Tanaka open the door for Hiroki.

"Hiroki!" He called happy.

"Oh, Bakahiro" Hiroki greeted him with the same annoyed expression as always. He gave him a red package "Happy birthday."

"Thank you" he looked up and saw someone by his friend's side "Nowaki-san, it's been some time since we have seen each other."

Nowaki smiled "Yes, it's been. How are you, Usami-san?"

"Fine. Hiroki and you should visit more times."

"Há!" Hiroki let out a sarcastic laugh "And let you take advantage of our drunk selves for your books? No way!"

"I am serious. You two rarely come to the Usami mansion."

"Well," Nowaki scratched the back of his neck "the marriage is coming and the preparations are crazy. Hiro-san's family is helping us, but there is a lot to do, yet."

"I hope everything works out in the end."

"Thank you."

He guides them to the living room where the rest of the family waited.


	9. The Underground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> College is hell. I am so sorry it took me so long to post this chapter.  
> I hope you enjoy!!!

Mino woke up in a jump when he felt the water around him, reaching his neck.

He got up fast holding into the walls, lost in the dark. Where was he? It took a few seconds to remember he fell, no, he was pushed down the water well. He cursed and looked his pockets for his lighter. Although  he stopped smoking a long time ago, it was still a habit to carry the lighter. It was practical when Takano or someone in the office was stressed and didn't have any to light a cigarette, but he never felt as thankful for this as in this moment.

Also, although wet it still worked. It didn't light the well enough to see the top, but since it was completely dark the entrance was probably closed. He cursed loudly again.

"Help!" He screams "Is somebody there?! Onodera-san! Takano-san! Takahashi-kun! Yamato!  _Someone_!"

He let out a sigh when all he got as an answer was his own voice echoing. And silence.

Looking around, he used the lighter to examine the water. He needed to think something to get out, fast. But how? Even if he kept on yelling, he doubt he could do it for long before losing his voice and breath and how would they know he was there? Would the frequency of his voice be strong enough to reach the other side all the way up there? Hardly.

He decided to look for loose bricks around him. Maybe he could climb the wall all the way up like stairs. There was a possibility of this plan failing, but there was nothing else he could think right now.

"Oh damn it" he let out when none of the briks were coming out.

Angry, not really thinking, he kicked the wall, trying to let out some of the frustation. For a second before his feet collided with the wall, he thought this would end up bad, waiting for the pain. It never came.

Instead, the wall moved.

He looked down to the dark water, and moved his feet again. More of the wall moved and fell.

One of his arms held the lighter high out of the water while the other plunged into the water to touch the lowest part of the wall. The water was as high as his mouth and tasted disgusting on his lips. He felt the wall give away a little by pushing it and probably would give more space if he used both of his arms.

After taking a deep breath, he extinguishes the lighter and submerges.

The wall fell under the amount of force he used. It was old and deteriorated by water over the years. He came back again to breath in before submerging one more time. He passed the hole it opened and used to wall to guide himself to the surface. When he reached it, tried to get up just to hit his head on a low floor.

He stayed on his knees, with the water a little under his shoulders, and took the lighter again to see where he was.

It was a tunnel.

Misaki gave up trying to open the living room's door out of breath "It's no use. It's impossible to open it from the outside."

It was still hard to absorb the story the children told him – Yuzu and Hana – but right now, after everything, this was the best explanation until something made sense again.

"Isn't there any other way?" Yamato asked the other children.

Yuzu shook his head "It's probably locked from the other door." His glass like eyes turn wide when he remembers something "The tunnels!"

"Tunnels?" Misaki asked.

"Ichi-sama asked to make them underground the property in any case, like an invasion. I explored them myself to make sure they were perfect. Some are higher like under the floor, others go much farter to the undersoil."

Misaki made a mental note to ask that part of the story later "Right, does any of them take to the living room Usagi-san is in?"

"Yes!" Yuzu points to the other side of the hallway "But, you need to get into them by outside. I can guide you over here since this one isn't really deep. Just follow where my voice tells you too or where it comes from. The tunnels are connected so be careful not to turn any wrong corner."

Misaki nodded "Alright. Show me the way."

Yuzu guides them until the outside. They got out by the balcony and he started to pull the wood under it.

"They changed the old wood!" Yuzu said angry "This part was supposed to come out easily!"

Misaki jumped from the balcony and helps. There was actually a tunnel under it. It surprised him how well Yuzu could remember, unless he was here all the time since he died. It was a sad possibility.

"Do you have a lantern?" Hana asked. Misaki takes out his cellphone from his pocket and turns on the flash light "Great."

"Pay attention to what I say" Yuzu reminds him "And... good luck, with whatever is there."

Misaki nodded and, with all the determination he held, he got into the tunnel.

It was low, so he needed to crawl to move. From there he could listen to Yuzu, Hana and Yamato singing something for him to follow. It was hard to breath. He almost couldn't wait to get fresh air.

"Turn on the next right!" Yuzu yelled and so he did.

Although he needed to crawl, it wasn't so hard. The tunnel was made for people bigger than him. Never in his life he had been so happy for being smaller than other males. 

"It's the next left!"

Two ways appeared in front of him. He gulped and followed to the left. 

He hopped this wasn't taking him to a trap.

Akihiko observes the movement around him as he walks. Relatives, some friends from college and even some of the workers from Marukawa Publishing like Isaka and Aikawa were present whishing him a happy birthday. It was satisficing to see everyone there. Well, almost everyone.

"Aki!"

He turns around with a smile to the woman walking in his direction. She wore an elegant kimono, with a white background covered with golden flowers pattern and a purple belt,  matching with Akihiko's shirt. Her hair was light gray, almost silver, tied in a high bun with golden ornaments. She didn't wear any make up, but the lines of expression in her face were forgotten by a beautiful smile.

He smiled at her "Hello, mother."

Her smile became bigger when he offered her an arm which she accepted to hold.

"So?" She asked "Where is my son in law? For a second I thought it was Hiroki until I see him with that tall man."

Akihiko let out a chuckle "Hiroki is a great friend, and will always be only that."

"I see" she nodded "Oh, there they are! Your father and Haruhiko! Let's go, we still  need to call the photographer for a family picture. After, we take another with my son in law and his family."

Akihiko followed his mother who let him go to walk faster to her destiny. He waved to the photographer who ran in their direction. Fuyuhiko and his wife took a seat in two chairs while Haruhiko and Akihiko stood behind them. All of them had smiles showing how happy they were.

His mother got up after the photographer free them. She smiled to him and Haruhiko before hugging them at the same time. "My sons: a writer and an architect and successful ones! I am so proud with both of you."

HIs father put his hand on his shoulder and nods in agreement.

It was a good picture.

Mino follows the tunnel full of water until a hole came in the floor with enough space to pass. There was also a metal stair to climb. He had to keep going in the dark, careful not to hold in the stairs with a firm grip. He only stopped when he raises his hand and touches something like a metal floor with a knob. He pushes it with all his force and almost laughs in happiness when he meets the moonlight.

It was actually strange. Sometimes, on the way, his mind would black out like he stopped paying attention for a few seconds, but he didn't worry about it as he looks at the room he is in.

He got out by a trapdoor under a wood floor so he closes it before any accident happens.  It wouldn't be good falling from there. 

The room was mostly likely one of the principal rooms in the house. It was bigger than any of the others he saw until then, and the decoration and furniture looked much expensive. The only thing out of the decoration looking inspired on or belonging to the Meiji era, were the objects inside a glass wardrobe.

"Argh!"

Mino fell on his knees when a sharp headache hits him. He moans in pain and tries to massage his temples to relive the pain. He opened his eyes only to frighten himself. It was as if everything had doubled, one thing above the other in a transparent way. At the same time there was a double bed, there was a low desk on the same place. Instead of a wooden floor there were tatami mats and in the corner, instead of the ceramic vase, there was a parasol leaning against it. He could not see anymore. The sight hurt her so much he had to close his eyes.

The headache subsided gradually, but another wave of pain made him let out a cry. He looked around again despite the pain, and his eyes stopped in the wardrobe - the only thing that had not changed. He got up with difficulty and followed him, trying to understand the reason behind it.

Small pottery objects, a katana, dolls, and something that reminded him of a wind up toy. Nothing caught his attention, until his hands touched a black box in the back of the wardrobe. It was perfectly smooth, dusty by the time it was left untouched. Inside it, there was only one thing.

A white headband.

He turned to look at the confused band. Why had something like this been kept for, it seemed, so long?

He looked up, finding something not duplicated by his strange sight. A mirror.

"Who ... who are you?" He asked.

The duplicate view of himself just smiled and tilted his head, without knocking the pink flower crown over his hair.


	10. Blood stains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...yeah  
>  I hope you all enjoy it!

Masamune and Ritsu entered the kitchen but were disappointed its emptiness. They swore someone was there not long ago.

“What do you think was that noise?” Masamune asked looking out of the window, like someone could be hiding there.

“I don’t know” he stopped when his foot kicked something near the counter.

Masamune turned around “What was that?”

“Nothing. I just hit my foot.”

Masamune just nodded, relaxed, and started to look around again. Ritsu bent down to look what was it. He didn’t know if a shredded glass was a good sign. Someone had to be there to dump it, but it also made him wonder to why was it dumped. He took the biggest piece, thinking, careful not to cut himself.

“Ritsu!” Masamune called “I think I saw someone in the other building. Let’s go there.”

Ritsu blinked by the interruption. He gets up and follows the other without a word.

 

Akihiko and other relatives are sitting together, laughing of one of his father’s stories, when a hand touches his shoulders.

“Hey” Haruhiko says, “Your fiancé and his family just got here.”

He smiled, and his mother quickly runs to him when she hears it.

“Oh, the famous Takahashi arrived? I can’t wait to meet him!”

Akihiko takes his mother’s arm with his own as he guides her to the entrance “You will love him, I am sure of this.”

She gave him a kind smile “Akihiko, I want you to know that, no matter what kind of person he is, I trust you to choose a good partner. I was surprised when I was told about it being a man, but if this is how it is, you have all my support. And your father and brother’s, too.”

“…Thank you, mother.”

He closed his eyes with a smile. Never in his life was he so happy. He was successful doing what he loved, his family was united and supportive of his choices. Of course, there was just one more person to complete all of this.

His mother gave his arm a quick squeeze “Are those them?”

 On the right, was a tall man with black hair and dark gray eyes. Takahashi Shiro. On the left, was a small woman with long brown hair in an elegant braid, she had beautiful green eyes. Takahashi Sakura.

In the middle, was that person. Messy brown hair, eyes like his mother, green like…

“Usagi-san!”

Akihiko blinked, stopping his thoughts suddenly, and looked at the person in front of him.

“Are you okay? You look distracted.”

What…?

“Akihiko” his mother touched his arm, looking for his attention “Is something wrong?”

“Oh, yes, I am sorry. I think I just felt dizzy for a moment.” He clears his throat and smiles at his fiancé “Mother, I would like to introduce you to my fiancé: Takahashi Takahiro.”

 

Everything was quiet ever since they played with Oni, and this was starting to worry Ritsu. Something must be wrong, and his suspicious only grew as they didn’t find their friends at all. He crossed and uncrossed his arms, not being able to stay still. Masamune notices it.

“What is it?” he asks.

“Nothing” Ritsu shakes his shoulders “Just… the situation itself.”

Masamune observes him for a second and nods, understanding. He stopped suddenly.

“Hm?” Ritsu stopped and walked up to him “Is something wrong?”

Masamune just looks at him for a few seconds, again, and hugs him, slowly, hiding his face against his shoulder. “I love you.”

Ritsu can fell his cheeks heat up. “I-It’s no-not time for that! And I know it!” he frees himself from the hug and looks away.

“You know?” Masamune asks.

“Of course! You say this all the time!” he starts walking again in the direction of the building they saw from the kitchen.

“Yeah” Masamune walks along “I think I do.”

The building was large, but low. Ritsu opens the door, trying to think what they used this place for. Well, he didn’t remember, but if they used it as a storage, it would make much more sense than… this.

“What _is_ this?”

There were swords, archery, and other equipment’s that could make him remember of the kendo classrooms in school. He was never part of them, but some of his friends were and he watched their practice and competitions sometimes. The problem? He didn’t remember anything like this in the estate.

“Your family did keep the tradition” Masamune says, touching a fake opponent make of wood.

“I don’t remember this” Ritsu voices out his thoughts as he takes one of the swords out of its hangings on the wall. He unsheathes it – it’s real. “Right, it’s probably been here from the war, but it’s also the kind of thing we would have put away. There is no reason for my family to keep it like this.”

“If you say so. Well, there is no one here” Masamune turns around “We should go-”

A shadow appears behind him, and Ritsu only had time to yell: “Behind you!”

Masamune looks wide-eyed and deviates fast enough when something passes close to his head.

Masamune runs until he is back close to Ritsu, right in front of him. There was a man wearing a black yukata. The thing to almost hit him was a sword in the man’s hand, now stabbed in the wood doll.

Masamune curses “They come in big sizes too…”

The man looks back to them and frees his sword with a strong pull. He runs in their direction.

“Watch out!” Ritsu yells. He raises the sword in his own hands in front of Masamune, horizontally blocking the attack. He needed all his straight to keep blocking it “Shit!”

Something hits the man forcefully and he steps back. Masamune took one of the bows and knocked the swordsman with it.

“Let’s get out of here!” says Masamune while the swordsman came back to his senses “Maybe we can outwit him.”

Ritsu nods and follows the other to the door. It didn’t open. _Of course,_ it didn’t. He punches it in anger, but completely stopped when an arrow craves next to his hand. The two men turn around. There is another man, this one holding an archery in the other side of the training ground.

“Takano…” he says, watching the two men who waited for them – the archer slowly lifting up his hand to catch another arrow “What should we do?”

“Well” Masamune tights his hold around the bow in his hand “I don’t think they will let us go without a fight.”

Ritsu breaths in deep and nods “I-I never used a sword, before.”

“I will take care of the archer, just… try not to be hurt.”

He nods as the swordsman runs in his direction. Masamune ran to the left while he ran to the left. Ritsu kept his attention on the sword, to not let it stab him as the swordsman tried to. He was fast, making it harder for the editor.

In a moment of carelessness, he fell on the ground. The sword came down in his direction for another attack, and he used his own sword to block the attack. The swordsman forced him down until he was laying down, the blades slowly coming centimeters from his face.

Ritsu closes his eyes, his limps in pain due to effort to keep the man away… And it was gone. He opens his eyes and sees the man taking an arrow off his arm, with an easy as if he wasn’t in pain at all. He gets up and retreats until he thinks it is safe enough, then looks around for Masamune. The older man stands with his bow raised, his other hand still backing off from throwing the arrow.

For a second, he wonders where the archer is, when said runs and knocks Masamune with his bow.

“Takano-san!” he yells and runs in their direction.

The archer takes one of his arrows and raises it, his aim in Masamune, but Ritsu is fast enough to hit him with the sword’s hilt. The archer is knocked out. He looks at Masamune. “Are you okay?!”

Masamune presses his hand on his head and hisses in pain but nodding. He opens his eyes and suddenly they are wide “Behind you!”.

Ritsu dodges and the attack passes close to him, it gets part of the fabric of his sweater and it opens a gash. Even bleeding, the swordsman doesn’t slow down.

He grabs his sword ad raises it again, clashing it with the other’s weapon in defense. He remembers his friends practice and guess he is trying to copy it. He tries to keep a firm hold, before retreating again before clashing weapons again. Retreat and kneel. The weapon passes centimeters from his head. He tries to an attack, but the man dodges it.

When the man tries another attack, there is an opening. His sword comes down, over the other’s sword and forces it down. He attacks, and the man can barely block it, but quickly picks up the pace again. He repeat’s Ritsu’s movement forcing his sword to the ground and uses it to slide his own up to the other’s neck. The editor throws his head back and kneels, and his mind is dizzy for a moment after another almost stab.

Their blades crash again, and, after this, things are too fast for himself to understand his own decisions.

He gets close enough to hold the swordsman’s wrist, and the other on his blade’s handle uses it to force the other’s sword down and still. With a strong pull on the other’s wrist, he takes him off balance and gets enough time to raise his sword again and stab it in the man’s throat.

He stops completely, shocked, scared, as the blood spurts from the throat of the swordsman.

Ritsu let go of both the man and the sword. His body is shaking as he watches the lifeless body fall on the ground and he covers his mouth with his hands to hold back a scream. His legs feel weak and he kneels, his eyes still on the body in front of him. He wants to throw up and so he does.

“Ritsu!” Masamune yells and runs to his side. He is pulled away from the body to another corner on the training ground “Ritsu, look at me! C’mon!”

“I-I…” he tries to speak, but he gives up when his breath is too fast for it.

“Ritsu, please, look! Breath!” Masamune shakes his shoulders and holds his face to make him look at him “Calm down and look!”

He forces the younger man, who almost couldn’t move, to look at the other side, back to where the archer laid and is disappearing in a pile of sand. Ritsu watches in confusion and his eyes slowly travel to the swordsman. Like the archer, it disappears in sand, not leaving even a single drop of blood behind.

“They weren’t real” Masamune hugs him, and he doesn’t care if he is hugging back to the point of almost hurting the other as he cries “Don’t worry. You didn’t kill anyone.”

He tries to believe it. But while he was fighting he didn’t know the man wasn’t real. For him, it was still the same.

The door was unlocked, and they walked back in silence to the kitchen. Masamune gives him a glass of water.

“Stay here” he says “I will grab you a new shirt, I saw a wardrobe nearby with some clothes…”

Oh, right. The blood on the ground disappeared, but the drops on his face and clothes were still there. He drinks the water, feeling sick again.

He waits a minute or so in silence until Masamune is back, running.

“I meet Mino! He and the other’s found a way out! Let’s go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> worse than write combat scenes, is write combat scenes in a language that isn't your first  
> i made this fight between ritsu and the swordsman based on a video i saw, if its unrealistic blame youtubers


	11. The Happy Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I had a beta for this, so I am sorry for any grammar mistakes and stuff and I hope you like it!

Even as satisfied as he was, having his mother and everyone else’s approval of his fiancé, Akihiko still felt like something was wrong.

“Oi, Bakahiro” Hiroki calls him “Where is your head? In Takahiro or our talk?”

He didn’t even realize his eyes were in his fiancé and looked back at his friend with a smile. “Let’s say I was nervous for today.”

Hiroki sighs in a fake irritation “Sincerely, your parents would accept it even if you had a teddy bear as a fiancé!”

Akihiko laughs “You exaggerating a lot.”

“I am not. Your family loves you. I think I am a little envious of it, my parents took a few days to accept Nowaki, fully.”

“And now they treat me like a son” said Nowaki, approaching the two friends, and gave his own fiancé a glass of wine, his husband in a few weeks. “Here.”

“Thank you.”

Akihiko looks back at where his parents were talking to Takahiro and his own parents. The two future husbands eyes meet and they smiled. Akihiko finished his drink and gave the glass to a passing by waiter. Takahiro finished his talk and walked in his direction.

“Your mother is great, if this is what you were worried about.” Takahiro says, taking his fiancés hands.

“I was more worried about what she thought of you. You like any kind of person.”

He laughs “You think too little of me.”

Takahiro comes closer to him for a kiss, but he is stopped when a floral fan is open between them.

“I am sorry to interrupt,” his mother retrires the fan “but how about a dance? First the fiancés.”

They smile and walk to the middle of the hall. Akihiro smiles when they hold their hands high, their golden rings shining under the light. As the music starts, they move in perfect synchrony. They must have danced a lot of times together. Probably. His memory was vague…

By the corner of his eye, he could see his father inviting his mother for a dance, bowing like a gentleman, and both walked to the hall with their arms tangled. Nowaki and Hiroki came next, and other couples started to follow. He couldn’t stop smiling, until something calls his attention.

“Who is that dancing with my brother?”

Dancing with his brother, was a woman with light brown hair, and a slightly round belly, little visible because of the dress. She was familiar, somehow.

“Your mind is far today, uh?” Takahiro laughs and pulls him closer to focus on their steps “It’s Minami. His wife. I didn’t recognize her myself at first, she is so pretty. Not that she isn’t, but even more today. Maybe it’s the pregnancy.”

“Wife?” he asks, confused “I… I don’t…”

“Usagi-san.”

Takahiro locks their lips in a kiss and, slowly, they stopped to dance. Akihiro forgot what he was thinking. It felt like ages since he had this moment with his most important person. A moment that, sadly, was stopped when the other stepped back.

“Misaki…”

His eyes wide and he sees an equal expression on Takahiro’s face.

“Misaki!” he yells the name again when he thinks about it “Where is your brother?”

“Brother?” Takahiro looks confused “Usagi-san, I don’t have a brother. Are you sure you are okay?”

“Yes, let’s dance again.” A par of green eyes flashes in his memories “No! You, you _have_ a brother…”

“Dear” his mother approaches him “Are you alright? You are pale.”

He looks around – all the guests have stopped to look the confusion. He grits his teeth trying to fight a foreign pull to ignore his personal problems and keep smiling – _to not mess up this happy life_.

“No. I am not okay. Who is Minami? Since when is Haruhiko married? And where is Misaki, Takahiro’s brother?”

Haruki walks closer with Minami “Akihiko, did you hit your head? Minami and I have been married for three years. We are having a baby with a name _you_ choose.”

Akihiko blinks, still confused.

“Hm,” Takahashi Sakura steps closer “I am sorry, but, Takahiro, you didn’t tell him?”

Takahiro looks away, clearly nervous.

“Takahiro, what didn’t you tell me?” he asks, forgetting his brother’s story that still didn’t make any sense.

“I-I don’t know where you have heard this name, I thought it was a joke. Besides, a terrible one.” Takahiro looks at him with pure pain in his eyes “My brother, Misaki, died ten years ago in a car crash. My parents were in the car, and survived, but Misaki…” he closes his eyes and sighs with sadness “He was only _eight_.”

Akihiko feels his chest tighter “Takahiro…”

His mother puts a hand on his shoulder “Why don’t you take him upstairs? You deserve a moment to rest, too. I think all the pressure of the party is being bad to your head. Maybe you have a fever…”

He follows his mother’s advice and takes Takahiro to his bedroom.

“I am sorry” he says, sitting besides Takahiro on his bed. The other still had a painful expression “I… didn’t want to hurt you like that.”

Takahiro gives him a sad smile “It’s okay. You didn’t know. I-I should have told you a long time ago, about Misaki.”

“Maybe, but not like that.” He hugs his fiancé with a strong grip “Forgive me.”

He can feel Takahiro nodding against his chest and that was enough. They stayed on that position for a few seconds in complete silence, until Takahiro steps back to give him a kiss. Different from the kiss back in the party, this one was more intense. Takahiro moved his hands up to his chest to push him to the mattress, while Akihiko’s hands gripped his hips tightly. His fiancé moaned against his lips and moved to kiss his neck.

“Shit…” he curses.

“I was holding back the whole night” Takahiro whispers against his neck.

Akihiko moves his hand to hold Takahiro’s brown hair.

“Mi-!” he is interrupted when Takahiro kisses him again.

He tried to pull his partner to under him, but the other held his wrists.

“Let me take care of you tonight.” He smiles “It’s your birthday, remember?”

Akihiko let him do as he whished, an attempt to relax. Takahiro’s hands traveled up his chest under his shirt, sliding over his waist making a shiver go up his spine.

“Taka-“

For a second, a pair of green eyes appeared as a flash in his mid and he hesitated.

Takahiro kisse him lower and lower.

Green eyes, like emeralds. A smaller body, smaller than him, smaller than Takahiro.

Takahiro stops to unlock his belt.

Warmth. There is warmth in those hands, much different than his own cold ones.

Takahiro stopped when Akihiko pushed him away by his shoulders.

“Usagi-san…?”

That nickname. There was another voice calling him like this in the back of his memories, one with pure happiness. Waking him up in the morning, calling him to eat, in places they have gone together.

“Who… are you?”

Takahiro comes closer and holds his face “Usagi-san! Stop scaring me, I am really worried about you! Look at me!”

He could feel them. Warm arms around him as the snow falls down over them.

“ _Look at me_!” Takahiro shakes him.

Brown locks. So soft.

“Usagi-san!”

They yelled at him every time Akihiko said something perverted. They must have yelled a lot at him.

Before Takahiro could say something else, Akihiko held his wrists and threw him on the mattress under him.

“Who are you?” his voice only showed pure anger. He didn’t care if his hold was hurting the false image, deep down he _wanted_ it to hurt the thing.

“I am Takahiro” the growl from the author made the thing roll their eyes “Why don’t you just accept it? This reality is much better, isn’t it? This is all you have ever wanted in your whole life!”

“Where is Misaki?” he ignored the pull in his mind to agree with the thing, he couldn’t give in again “What did you do to him?”

“Am I wrong? Tell me, isn’t it much better to stay here? Your parents accept you, your brother never tried to step in your choices. The person you suffered by love for most part of your life loves you back. Isn’t this what you want?”

“Yes, it was…” he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The pull was strong.

“Then _stay_.” The things voice was gentle. Akihiko’s hold was weaker, so it took advantage of it to pull back one of the wrists. It caressed the author’s cheek “You can stay here, with us. And live a life you always dreamed about. Why go back?”

“Misaki…”

“You will forget him. There will be no pain. Misaki will also feel this. He will move on at some point, and live his own life.” The thing pulled him closer to whisper in his ear “Safe and sound with his family. Away from _yours_.”

Akihiko gulped. The option becoming more and more tempted. Keep Misaki safe…

_‘Usagi-san is mine!’_

He jumped back, stepping away from the thing until he thought it was enough.

_‘It’s okay. I love you, Usagi-san.’_

_‘I’m just desperate because I want to be with you, that’s all.’_

Akihiko looked at the thing, without any expression, he said “No. Because… A life without Misaki… it wouldn’t be a happy life.”

The thing shakes its head in frustration “And you will let him suffer because of your family? Because you are selfish and egoist?”

The author smiled, sadly “I said I wouldn’t let him go. And I think he wouldn’t forgive me if I tried to decide something for him, again.”

The thing snorted, it’s eyes filled with anger “Whatever. You are not getting out of here, anyway.”

 

Ritsu could hardly breath as he tried to keep up with Masamune as they run though the garden. The aftershock of everything that just happened were just passing as the adrenaline came back. Having something else to focus was good, too. It wasn’t as overconsuming like when they played with Oni, but he was a little confused.

He stopped on his tracks and almost fell when Masamune still ran.

“What happened?” Masamue asks as he stops.

Ritsu shook his head and looked at the other “Where… where are the others? I mean, you said you found Mino, but I haven’t seen him yet.”

“He must be up ahead.” Masamune tried to go back to walking again, but Ritsu held him back.

“Stop it! Usami-sensei wasn’t in condition to run! They still must be inside of the house, we should have get together and look for them, and then get out!”

“We don’t know with the way will be closed when we come back with them! We need to get out, _fast_.”

“But how do you think it would be if _we_ got out, but the others _didn’t_?!”

“I just want to keep you _safe_!”

They are both breathless when they stop yelling. Ritsu hesitated when he felt Masamune’s hand shaking, even if it was strongly holding his hand.

“Hey” he said and pulled the other to a hug. Masamune didn’t waste a second to hug him back, and hid his face in the brunette’s neck “It’s okay. You protected me so far until now.”

“…I love you.”

Ritsu nods “I know. I want you to understand I can’t go without them. I could never.” He stepped back and caressed Masamune’s cheek with one of his hands. The older male closed his eyes, enjoying the gentleness. “I just have one question to you.”

“Hm?”

“Why are you pretending to be Takano?”

The man in front of him open his eyes wide as Ritsu presses a glass shard against his throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am too tired to look for the grammar mistakes, I really hope when I check this out later it wont be major mistakes


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